Risa Halprin, a business development consultant for Runzheimer International, said fair reimbursement rates must include fixed and variable expenses associated with owning a vehicle, including fuel, maintenance, insurance, registration and local cost of living.

Runzheimer is a consultancy firm that determines the IRS-sanctioned reimbursement rate, which Halprin said serves as the default for "a smaller company that doesn't want to pay a resource such as my company" to craft a fair and precise travel reimbursement strategy.

"We work with companies that have a variety of different methods: gas cards, company-owned vehicles, using IRS reimbursement rate or lower," Halprin said.

Drivers who are reimbursed at lower rates can write off the difference as a tax deduction, according to IRS spokesman Gregg Semanick.

Runzheimer recalculates reimbursement for its own employees monthly, Halprin said.

"As a salesperson, a lot easier to go out on the road because you're not thinking about what you're getting back," Halprin said.

Many workers don't have discretion over how much they drive.

Domino's franchises decide on an individual basis how to reimburse delivery drivers, according to Jack Praizner. Praizner has owned Domino's stores in Absecon and Galloway Township for five years. The average price per gallon of unleaded gasoline has risen 81 percent since then, but Praizner said he's maintained the $1 to $2 per delivery reimbursement for the 15 drivers he employs. As for 2008?

"We'll see what happens," he said Sunday.

Delivery drivers for Primo Pizza must front their transportation costs. They aren't reimbursed for miles driven, but pocket the $1 delivery charge plus 3 percent of sales, according to Victor Figuero, who has managed the three-site local chain's Somers Point location for 18 years. Other stores are in Ocean City and Atlantic City.

To recoup fuel costs to drive a 20-mile delivery route, with gas priced at $3.40 per gallon, a Primo driver would need to deliver $24 worth of food in that trip (at $12.75 each, two large pizzas more than cover it).

The system lets drivers keep pace with fuel costs and other economic factors that also affect menu prices, which have recently jumped due to fuel price hikes, Figuero said.

Reimbursement practices vary for public employees. Galloway Township, for example, sticks close to the IRS-issued rate, whereas state employees get the 32 cents-per-mile rate sanctioned by the federal government in 10 years ago, according to Kevin Davis, spokesman for the state Department of Labor and Workforce Development.

State laws do not dictate travel reimbursement protocol for the private or public sector work force, Davis said.

Workers who use company-owned vehicles catch the biggest break.

Voorhees-based New Jersey American Water, which has an office in Egg Harbor Township, started "at least three years ago" to swap gas-powered cars for those that run on natural gas or electricity, according to spokeswoman Lindel Jones. The change is saving the company money and is environmentally friendly, too, Jones said.

"Meter readers have to be out, so we're using vehicles powered by natural gas and hybrids," Jones said. "That's one of the things we're doing to help save on gas."

It's rare that employees use their own vehicles, as New Jersey American Water prefers them to use company-owned cars instead, according to Jones.

When they must resort to using personal transportation for work purposes, they get the federal government-determined mileage rate, Jones said.

To e-mail Emily Previti at The Press:

epreviti@pressofac.com