The Wilton select board on Monday bought a year-old aerial firetruck for less than half of what a new one would have cost with money previously approved by voters.

The ladder truck was used as a demonstration model in the past, has 5,000 miles on the odometer, and cost $500,000. A similar truck would have cost from $1.2 million to $1.4 million new, town officials said.

In November, residents voted 32-27 to approve spending up to $500,000 on a used aerial firetruck.

Officials said the 2013 HME aerial truck with a 78-foot platform will replace the town’s 40-year-old ladder truck, which was salvaged.

The truck would come with everything that the town needs in a firetruck except a generator and lettering. Town Manager Rhonda Irish said the town could take the generator from the former engine 7 and use it for the new firetruck. The lettering will cost an estimated $700 to $800, depending on the contractor, she said.

The exact financing for the truck has not been worked out, but Irish said the town could take up to $30,000 annually from the town’s tax increment financing money and the balance would need approval at the annual Town Meeting.

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Irish said the firetruck will arrive in two to three months.

Wilton’s 1993 engine 7 is also for sale. This will leave the department with three firetrucks, one less than when the town owned its former ladder truck, though town officials said previously that the new truck will be enough to meet the town’s needs.

Kaitlin Schroeder — 861-9252

kschroeder@centralmaine.com

 


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