New Philadelphia is on the hook for the purchase of a new fire rescue vehicle despite the city’s challenging financial situation.
Safety Director Kevin Milligan says backing out or delaying the contract would cost the city about 500-thousand dollars in penalties or inflationary increases.
“Do we need the vehicle, yes, I think it’s something that we are in need of. If I could have delayed it and I was in a different position now I would have delayed it a little, maybe, but we don’t have the ability under the current agreements to do that. If we were to delay it now and move it, it’s probably going to cost us close to another half million dollars. If you look at what it cost today to what it was when we ordered it, that’s been the inflationary price, so there’s not a lot of great options.”
City Council back in 2023 agreed to buy the roughly 1.2-million-dollar rescue vehicle with payments not due until its delivery, which is expected next year.
Councilwoman Cheryl Ramos said she did not support the purchase in 2023.
“I was here on council when that went on and I voted no at the time because they didn’t know how they were going to pay for, some of the council members, it was just like – oh, we can just resell it.”
A resell option comes with a penalty payment.
Councilman Michael Walker says the city has to pay for the new fire rescue vehicle either way.
“We are on the hook for this thing based on what happened a number of years ago in this council chamber. This is the best option at this point, is to get it and if we have to sell it we’ll sell, but for right now we are just on the hook.”
The mood was somber Monday night as city officials and Council members discussed how they could afford annual 185-thousand-dollar payments over 10 years to pay off the vehicle loan.
They also discussed ongoing negotiations with Goshen and how that could impact the fire department’s budget. The contract to provide fire service to the township expires at the end of the year, and officials are worried Goshen won’t re-sign. That would remove a revenue source that could help pay for the vehicle purchase.
Milligan said he is expecting a resolution soon.
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