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Council highlights $7M annual vehicle master lease and $2M-a-year radio upgrade in draft budget
Summary
Council reviewed long-standing $7 million-per-year master lease for vehicle/equipment replacement and a multiyear plan to replace radios at an estimated $8 million, with roughly $2 million budgeted annually, because vendor system changes will make old radios incompatible.
Greenville County Council members reviewed capital requests in the draft budget for public-safety rolling stock and radios and sought clarity on financing and necessity.
Administrator Cornell said the county runs an approximate $7 million-a-year master lease program to finance fleet and equipment replacements, including law-enforcement patrol vehicles, ambulances and heavy equipment. "We spend approximately $7,000,000 a year purchasing vehicles and equipment," Cornell said, explaining the county uses municipal lease-purchase financing to spread payments.
Nut graf: Council discussed both the recurring master-lease finance payments (about $7 million annually) and a multiyear radio replacement plan totaling roughly $8 million. The administration asked council to consider multiyear funding to keep public-safety radio systems compatible with vendor upgrades.
On radios, staff said changes by the county's core vendor will render the county's existing radios incompatible with a new system, and the county must upgrade some radios. The administration described a multiyear purchase plan with roughly $2 million budgeted each year toward an $8 million replacement need. "The current system will be obsolete...we still have to purchase about $8,000,000 worth of radios," the county's representative said.
Councilors asked whether other vendors could bid and whether purchases should be phased. Staff said some interoperability issues favor consistent equipment across departments, but in-vehicle and handheld combinations can mix brands as long as interoperability and training are preserved. Councilors also questioned whether the $7 million master-lease figure is an annual cash outlay; staff clarified that the $7 million represents the annual payment/financing level reflecting fleet replacement cadence and lease amortization.
Ending: Councilors requested further detail in budget documents about capital outlays, financing schedules and the multiyear radio replacement plan; no capital appropriation changes were made in the workshop.
