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Prairie Township to get new fire truck
(by Brandi Daniels, Staff Writer - January 04, 2011)
Prairie Township trustees have agreed to the purchase of a new fire truck for the township’s fire department.
The new rear-mount pumper apparatus will be purchased at a cost of $505,493. There was a discussion at the Dec. 29 meeting on whether the truck should be purchased with cash or through a loan.
Dan McCardle, the township’s fiscal officer said the township is purchasing the truck now because the price of the vehicle was expected to increase by 10 percent on Jan.1.
A big part of the reason the fire department asked the residents for the recent fire levy was so they could buy a new engine.
“We held off on buying this engine until the residents supported the fire levy. We have an engine that’s over 10 years old, aging and the repair bills are getting quite high on it, so it’s time to replace that engine,” Chairman Stephen Kennedy said.
The township has several options in paying for the truck.
They could pay it all in cash, in which case the payment would need to be made in full within 15 days of signing the contract, or the township could finance half of it.
Kennedy said he felt it would be better to pay for the truck with cash. “We have the money available and we won’t have to jump through many hoops to get it.”
The township would save roughly, $13,900 if the truck was purchased with cash, which is more than what the township would save on interest.
The money for the truck will ultimately come from the fire levy that was approved in November. Since that money does not start coming in until the first of January, the township is loaning the rest of the money to the fire department.
“It’s basically a loan. We’re forwarding them money to save interest money. Then when they get their funding in they will put it back in the general fund,” Vice-Chairman Doug Stormont said.
Fire Chief Steve Feustel said the money will be able to be paid back within two months once the levy money comes in.
The old engine will be stripped and sold. Feustel thinks that the department may be able to get between $20,000 and $25,000 for it.
“I’ll be surprised if it gets much higher than that,” Feustel said.
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