BAKERSFIELD, Calif. -- It's a perk of more than a quarter-million dollars a year, paid for by Kern County tax payers.

Top county staff, elected officials and county supervisors can get a car allowance of $608 a month. They can also ask for mileage reimbursement on top of that.

According to data provided by the Kern County auditor's office, 36 county staff took the car allowance in the last year for which figures are available. That's a total cost of $262,656 paid in that year.

Meanwhile, in the last budget, county supervisors eliminated the jobs of 159 full-time county workers.

Supervisor Don Maben still thinks the car allowance is a good idea, but he understands the question.

"People are going to be looking at things to see why we're doing it," Maben told Eyewitness News. "And that's a reasonable request."

Supervisor Jon McQuiston, representing the county as far east as Ridgecrest, says he needs to travel a lot. Is the car allowance still a good idea?

"I think to my constituency, the answer would probably be yes," he said.

These county staffers can get the car allowance, or use a county car instead. Maben thinks the car allowance is better.

"What would it cost the county to buy them cars, furnish them cars?" he asked.

At Kern-Tax, director Mike Turnipseed thinks the car allowance is actually a better deal for the public.

"It's less expensive than the county providing them cars," he said. The tax watchdog thinks there are other benefits that take a bigger budget bite.

"Their health care plan and their retirement packages are so expensive now," Turnipseed said.

Not all of the 36 people who qualify for the car allowance take it. According to the data provided by the auditor's office, the sheriff and library chief don't take the allowance. They use county cars.

Maben said he switched over to taking the car allowance a year ago, before that he used a county vehicle. But, he said getting the allowance penciled out better for him, and for his office's budget.

Those who get the allowance can also ask for 32 cents a mile in travel reimbursement. The figures from the auditor's office show not everyone asks for that. County staff who don't get the allowance can also ask for reimbursement, they get a higher rate: 55 cents a mile.

McQuiston also notes that when he uses his own car, he pays for the insurance.

"I pay for that," McQuiston said. "If I'm in an accident, the tax payers aren't on the hook for that."

He also said he can't use a county car for personal trips. In his own car, he can make trips that are either personal or county business.

Supervisor Ray Watson said the car allowance is needed to hire quality department heads.

"If you're going to hire somebody, you have to offer a wage that they're willing to work for," he asserted.

Watson also said, while he takes the car allowance himself, he's taking a 10 percent pay cut to help with the budget crunch.

That's what Supervisor Mike Maggard said, too.

"I decided it's appropriate for me to give back to the county a portion of my salary," he said. But, Maggard said in these tough economic times, the car allowance should be reviewed.

"I think it's one of the things that could be looked at next time around," he said.

Supervisor Michael Rubio echoed that.

"That's a question that should be looked at further," he said. "Everything should be on the table."

Rubio worries more about revamping workers' comp, but says they need to determine what is the most efficient use of tax dollars.

"Every rock needs to be turned over," he said.

Eyewitness News checked on car allowances provided in other counties. In San Bernardino County, elected officials, department heads and supervisors get the choice of using a county car or getting a car allowance. In San Bernardino the allowance is $1,000 a month, but no mileage is paid. According to their latest figures, 118 people take the car allowance and six use the county car.

In Tulare County, nine elected officials get a car allowance of $535.38 a month. And 13 department heads get a monthly car allowance of $461.54

And in Kings County, six elected officials get a car allowance. The district attorney gets $425 a month. Three of the Kings County supervisors get a monthly car allowance of $623.70, and two supervisors who live much farther south get an allowance of $723.70.

Turnipseed said coming Kern County budgets will only get tighter and questions what expenses, such as car allowances, will be more important.

"The world has changed, and it will be interesting to see where from now the compensation package with the county actually are," he said.

He predicts county supervisors will have to look for every penny of savings.

"Hopefully, if people are concerned about this they would write a letter to their supervisor," Turnipseed said.