City plans to replace fire trucks

About $1 million worth of emergency vehicles at the Whitefish Fire Department need to be replaced and the city is looking at a few options to finance the purchases.

The city held a work session April 16 with Fire Chief Tom Kennelly to discussion the department’s needs to replace a fire engine, brush truck, tender and ambulance. All of those vehicles are past the suggested national standard lifespan.

A 1994 engine is five years beyond the scheduled replacement date. The engine is one of three in the department’s fleet, with a 1997 model being the newest and a 1968 being the oldest. The ‘68 model is mostly used in parades and to shuttle Bulldog sports teams through town following a state championship.

A proposed replacement engine that is four-wheel drive with the capacity to carry 750 gallons of water is estimated to cost $425,000.

Kennelly calls the new engine “multi-purpose” with the ability to access rural areas. He said the 1994 engine has reached its lifespan and that parts are becoming difficult to find. The transmission recently went out, which was a $10,000 repair.

The 1982 tender is “just getting tired,” Kennelly said. The vehicle is 14 years past its scheduled replacement date. It sprung a leak over Easter and now leaks 20-30 gallons an hour. It’s the only tender in the department’s fleet.

The tender is a rural service vehicle and supplements city responses. It was used as back up during a fire last fall that destroyed a duplex in the Suncrest neighborhood.

A proposed replacement is estimated to cost $270,000. The new vehicle would carry 3,000 gallons of water and be four-wheel drive since it is primarily used in rural areas.

The 1978 brush truck is 16 years past the replacement date and is the only brush truck in the department’s fleet. It’s proposed to be replaced with a $165,000 vehicle.

A brush truck is typically used to fight brush or wildfires, and is more maneuverable than a large fire engine.

One 1992 ambulance is proposed to be replaced with a $160,000 four-wheel drive vehicle. There are currently five ambulances in the department’s fleet with the newest being a 2008 model.

City Manager Chuck Stearns presented two options for financing the new purchases: a general obligation bond or intercap loans.

A bond brings new dollars to the city’s budget and is voter approved. The earliest a bond could go on the ballot is during this November’s election.

Property taxes would be used to pay a bond.

The intercap loan program offered by the Montana Board of Investments lends low cost money to local governments for capital needs, including the purchase of new and used fire trucks. The current interest rate is 1.25 percent.

Intercap loans aren’t voter approved, which leaves the decision up to city council. Loan payments would be built into the city’s Fiscal Year 2013 budget. There was no mention of raising taxes to pay the loans.

Currently the city has $300,000 on hand to use for fire purposes, which accounts for a one-time payment from Whitefish Rural Fire Service Area. The WRFSA also makes annual payments to the city of $230,000 to provide fire service to homes beyond city limits.

Councilor Chris Hyatt said at the April 16 work session that the city should consider using part of the $300,000 to purchase a brush truck to service rural residents who helped make that payment.

“That’s money [WRFSA] has given to us,” Hyatt said. “We need to take care of them.”

Stearns noted that the $300,000 was “no strings attached.”

The city starts Fiscal Year 2013 budget talks this month.