Used excavator keeps village under budget

The Fredonia Village Board approved buying two pieces of equipment for the Public Works Department this month.

A 2019 used John Deere mini-excavator will cost nearly $63,000.

The village tried it out while creating the splash pad, Public Works Director Eric Paulus said. The machine has about 500 hours on it and it came from a homeowner who has a farm so it hasn’t been used on big construction sites. The excavator was serviced by a John Deere dealer and comes with three buckets.

The estimated cost for the machine was $70,000, “so we’re actually coming in under budget on this one,” Trustee Richard Ableggen said.

The village also bought a new Morbark gas chipper for nearly $30,000. Paulus said he traded in the village’s 2007 diesel chipper for $25,000 — $3,000 less than its original purchase price.

“We know it gets a lot of use around the village all summer and fall long,” Ableggen said.