After holding off on a decision for a month, the Sedona Fire District was given the green light in purchasing five new vehicles.  Last month the SFD Governing Board voted 3-2 to wait on purchasing the vehicles in order for staff to look at lease options and the associated costs compared to buying them outright. On Tuesday, Sept. 17, the board voted unanimously to buy the vehicles in the amount of $274,000. 

“We’re not going to discount the benefit of leasing but all the research staff has done it doesn’t indicate that leasing at this time would be the best route,” Division Chief Ed Mezulis said. 

In his research, Mezulis found that doing a lease purchase for five years at 3.85% would cost the district $301,625. A lease program through Enterprise would end up costing $398,183. 
The board decided that purchasing the vehicles with cash was the best option for the district. The interest on the lease purchase was more than the interest that would be gained by keeping the cash in capital reserve. In addition, leasing a vehicle would not afford the district any benefit over a cash purchase or lease purchase. 

During the Aug. 20 meeting, the board voted to hold off on the purchase of five new vehicles by a 3-2 vote. The members were in agree­ment that the purchases were necessary but they chose to hold off on giving approval in order to research if leasing the vehicles was a better option, similar to what the city of Sedona is doing. 

The vehicles being proposed for purchase or lease include: 

• The fleet service vehicle replacement will re-equip the fleet maintenance divi­sion with a mobile heavy fleet service vehicle. This will allow their mechanic to perform maintenance on apparatus remotely, at the station or in the field, reducing apparatus down­time. Cost: $145,362.45. 

• Three Ford F150s will go into service as command vehicles. Purchasing four-wheel-drive pickups allows them to better access many regions of the district. It also allows SFD to store firefighting and fire inspec­tion equipment outside of the cab of the vehicle, reducing the risk of cross contamina­tion of products of combus­tion, many of them known carcinogens.  Pickup trucks also provide SFD with an apparatus that performs as a “second lifecycle” for out-of-district assignments. Cost: $102,121.11. 
• They also request to purchase one small van type vehicle. It will be placed in service as a mobile IT van. This will give the IT admin­istrator mobile on site func­tionality and reduce drive times as well as down times. Cost: $26,488.77. 

“I have no doubt that the vehicles requested are needed in the fleet, espe­cially the mobile mechanic apparatus,” Board Chairman Dave Soto said last month. “But what I need to look at is how we pay for these things. Although it is in the budget, the fact is it’s almost more commonplace these days across the country to lease.” 

By doing so he said it enables the district to have a younger fleet of vehicles that can be turned in and replaced once the lease has expired. Soto said he’d like to see a cost analysis that includes purchasing of the vehicles compared to leasing or a lease-purchase option. However, Soto recom­mended that the maintenance truck be purchased outright and to do so immediately.