The town of Windham is looking to finance the replacement of an aging fire engine and two town plow/dump trucks.
The Windham Town Council approved a proposal Tuesday night to lump the purchase of these expensive vehicles into a single lease-purchase agreement totaling $450,000.
The near half-million-dollar figure would pay for a new $215,000 fire engine to replace Engine 7, a 20-year-old fire truck with severe corrosion and mechanical problems, said Fire Chief Charlie Hammond.
Along with the purchase of this fire engine, Windham Public Works would purchase two new trucks, both with new stainless steel bodies. These trucks will cost more than $100,000 each.
All money for these purchases would be taken out of the town’s Capital Maintenance budget and paid off during a five-year lease-purchase agreement.
Before councilors voted in favor of the purchase approval, Tom Gleason, of Cook Road, fumed at the council for proposing such heavy purchases without allowing residents to vote on the lump sum.
“I don’t care where the money comes from,” Gleason told the council. “People should have the right to vote on this.”
Councilor David Tobin defended the decision saying that this was all part of the town’s “Capital Maintenance plan,” which projects and allocates money for the replacement of old vehicles.
“This isn’t in addition to our budget,” Tobin said. “This is our budget.”
To salvage parts from the old fire engine, the $20,000 trade-in value of the old fire truck would be put toward outfitting the new fire engine with existing equipment.
“All of the equipment that can be taken off the current truck will be put on the new truck,” said Councilor Elizabeth Wisecup.
The idea behind the lease-purchase agreement, which will be financed through a local bank or other financial institution, is pay the vehicle vendors the full price and then pay a financial institution $450,000 back in annual installments.
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