November, 2007

Capital Purchasing Plan

My spring article discussed the development of a master plan for the Fire Department. We have met with the Public Safety Committee to discuss the long-range goals of the department and are preparing to meet with the community. The Fire Department has had several individual plans in place that allow us to be organized in our operations, but the intent of preparing a master plan is to bring all of those plans together in one document to assure that we have considered all options and that our efforts are as efficient as possible.

One document that has been in existence since at least the very early 90’s is a Capital Purchasing Plan. This plan provides a guide for how much money we project to spend over a set period of time. The plan originally included buildings and apparatus for the next ten years, but has been expanded to twenty years and includes equipment. Equipment was added due to the cost of things such as Self Contained Breathing Apparatus (SCBA), which exceeds $250,000 per air pack, and it is necessary to replace all 40 SCBA at once, becoming a significant expenditure. It has been discussed that it would be prudent to develop a separate capital account that receives a set amount of money every year. This would allow the budget to remain relatively constant and eliminate the need to borrow money for large purchases. Occasionally borrowing works out but typically that is not the case.

The Capital Plan called for the purchase of two fire trucks over a three-year period. By ordering both trucks this year, we were able to save over $40,000 in addition to what we saved on the financing. The savings result from less cost for engineering, more competition because of the larger sale, and we avoided having to purchase the new diesel engines, which add about $15,000 per vehicle. The trucks are being manufactured now with anticipated delivery in February. The chassis (this includes the passenger compartment and the frame of the truck) was manufactured by Spartan Motors located in Charlotte, MI. The committee that developed the specifications traveled to Spartan Motors and inspected the trucks prior to them being shipped to General Safety located in Wyoming, Minnesota, Once there, General Safety will manufacture and install the body.