RANGELEY — Selectmen voted Monday to have the town manager sign a lease-purchase agreement for a 2022 pumper firetruck and pursue financing for it.
Residents voted 205-132 on June 14 to approve a citizen petition for the lease-purchase for a total $750,000 over seven years, contingent on no interest or legal fees being added. It was left to selectmen to negotiate the purchase.
Town Manager Joe Roach and Fire Rescue Chief Michael Bacon worked together to find a truck that fit most of the needs of the department and didn’t exceed $750,000, including interest and legal fees.
It is a pumper truck designed in 2019 and due to be completed this year. It’s from Pierce Manufacturing in Appleton, Wisconsin, which has an office in Massachusetts that is the closest to Maine. The town will take ownership in five to six months.
The stock truck has a 1,000-gallon tank, rollover protection, air bags and an updated computer. It doesn’t have some of the items the department wanted, such as a galvanized coating for the frame, but it has electro-coating sufficient for Rangeley weather, Roach said.
The truck cost $642,000, but by trading in the 27-year-old Engine 3, it drops to $638,137. Engine 3 does not meet National Fire Protection Association standards.
The town received three financing proposals that met its requirements. The board chose Republic First National of Rochester, Indiana, which offered the lowest interest rate of 3.774%. There is a balloon payment at the end of the lease.
Selectmen asked Roach to try to get seven equal payments and eliminate a balloon payment, but if that is not possible the town can save money each year to lower the final payment.
With the balloon payment the truck would cost $744,997.06. Roach said that may drop if it’s agreed to do seven equal payments.
The board also directed Roach to find out if there is a prepayment penalty.
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