Port Clinton buying new $658,000 fire truck

PORT CLINTON - City council members approved the purchase of a 75-foot aerial fire truck Tuesday night, as the Port Clinton Fire Department looks to add to its fleet of six trucks.

Fire Chief Kent Johnson said his department had been looking to purchase a new truck for five years. He said there had been issues with timing that thwarted the city's efforts to buy the truck.

Auditor Cole Hatfield said the city will pay $658,853 for the vehicle, a demo truck built by Nebraska-based Smeal Fire Apparatus Co. The city will make a down payment of $100,000 - with the money coming from the fire levy fund - and finance the remainder of the purchase with a 12-year loan.

Hatfield said the city will make two payments annually, totaling $53,000.

"From a financial perspective, now is the time to do it," Hatfield said during the council's finance committee meeting, noting the low interest rates and ability to spread payments over 12 years.

Hatfield said the fire levy fund has an unexpended balance of $236,000.

"So all things being equal, I think it's something we can definitely afford," Hatfield said.

Johnson said the city could get delivery of the new truck from Smeal by the end of 2016.

dacarson@gannett.com

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