SPRINGFIELD - At the same time the Illinois Department of Transportation stopped scraping dead animals off of highways and curtailed mowing along interstates earlier this year, the state DOT's officials were buying more new cars than any other agency in the state.

According to a review of state records, the DOT bought nearly 150 cars for a price tag of more than $2 million in the fiscal year that ended June 30.

The flurry of purchases came as the agency was trying to trim its costs by curtailing some routine maintenance activities. It also came as the agency was crafting plans to move 150 workers to Southern Illinois as a way to save money.

Budget problems at the agency were bad enough that the department asked agency employees to drive their own vehicles rather than the state-issued cars as a way to keep expenses low.

"That seems to me to be outrageous," said state Sen. Larry Bomke, a Springfield Republican who has locked horns with the agency over its plan to move DOT jobs from Springfield to Harrisburg.

An agency spokesman defended the purchases, saying the new vehicles replaced cars and light trucks that had more than 150,000 miles on their odometers, were damaged in accidents or deemed too expensive to repair.

"These purchases are only to replace current fleet vehicles," spokesman Mike Claffey said.

In all, records show the state purchased 225 cars in the fiscal year.

After the DOT's purchase of 148 vehicles, the next-most vehicle purchases came at the Illinois State Toll Highway Authority, which purchased 35 cars.

Next on the list were the Illinois State Police and the Illinois Department of Aging, which bought 16 and 15 vehicles, respectively.

The DOT's fleet totals 1,782 vehicles, not counting heavy trucks and other equipment. The new Chevrolet Impalas, pickup trucks and Ford Focuses are used by engineers, technicians, planners, inspectors and others who must travel to job sites around the state, Claffey said.

Bomke said it was troubling to hear that the DOT was getting so many new vehicles at a time when the agency stopped mowing right-of-ways along state routes.

In one instance, workers at Camp Butler National Cemetery near Springfield mowed the roadside at their own expense to keep the area looking spruced up.

"It makes no sense," Bomke said.

kurt.erickson@lee.net|789-0865