Fire truck purchase poses budget challenge for Town of Fredonia

The Waubeka Fire Department has found a new fire truck that would cost the Town of Fredonia about $672,000, Fire Chief Jason Caswell told the Town Board last week.

The new truck would replace a 30-year-old model.

If the truck is purchased, the likely scenario is that the town will borrow the money and pay it back through the town tax levy, officials said.

“Historically, the town would take out a municipal loan on our behalf,” Caswell said.

But what impact that will have on the town budget is hard to say, Town Chairman Rich Mueller said.

“That’s a big number,” he said.

The new pumper tanker truck will replace one purchased in 1990.

Complicating matters for the town, Mueller said, is that another fire truck purchased in 1994 will need to be replaced in the next couple years.

“That makes things a little tight,” he said.

The fire department originally projected the cost closer to $700,000 but was able to get the price down by foregoing some options, Caswell said.

If the purchase is approved, delivery would probably be near the end of next year, he said.

In the meantime, the department has purchased a truck from the Deerfield Fire Department as a temporary replacement. Once the new truck is delivered, it likely will be sold, Caswell said.