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San Juan County to request $2.4 million ladder truck from congressional delegation; approves $600,000 match if awarded
Summary
The commission approved submission of a FY2026 congressionally directed spending request for a $2.4 million ladder truck for the county fire department and agreed the county would provide a 25% match of $600,000 only if the funding is awarded.
SAN JUAN COUNTY — The San Juan County Commission voted March 24 to submit a FY2026 congressionally directed spending request for a ladder truck for the county fire department and to provide a $600,000 local match if the request is funded.
A county staff member briefed the commission on application deadlines from the congressional delegation and recommended focusing on public-safety apparatus rather than buildings, citing guidance from the delegation that apparatus requests yield better results.
The staff presentation noted that FY2025 requests remained unresolved and cautioned the commission about low odds of success. Still, staff recommended submitting a single, focused request for a ladder truck estimated at $2,400,000 and to submit the request to all three members of the delegation: U.S. Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (applications due March 28), U.S. Sen. Ben Ray Luján (applications due April 1) and U.S. Sen. Martin Heinrich (deadline not yet determined), per the information the county received from its delegation.
The presenter said the fire department and the under sheriff had discussed needs and that the fire department had two apparatus-level projects under consideration — a ladder truck and a fire engine — with the ladder truck being the larger and higher-priority purchase. "The most sizable of those two projects would be the ladder truck. It's an approximate $2,400,000 price tag," the presenter said.
Chief Hagan of the fire department told commissioners that current build times for such apparatus are long. "The build time for apparatus right now, depending on the vendor and the specs that you're looking at, [is] about 3 to 3½ years," he said, adding that specialty ladder trucks could take longer and that "that price could easily jump up to $3,000,000 by that time." He also said the department would seek a demo or already-built unit to shorten delivery time if federal funds arrived.
Staff explained that federal practice in recent years has asked for a 25 percent local match for fire apparatus. Staff recommended, and the commission approved, submitting the $2.4 million ladder-truck request to all three delegation members and agreeing to provide the 25 percent match of $600,000 only if the county is awarded the funds; the match would not be budgeted unless an award occurred.
A commissioner made the motion to submit the request to all three members of the congressional delegation and to include the conditional $600,000 match; another commissioner seconded. The chair called for a voice vote and said, "All in favor? Aye." Hearing no opposition, the chair said the motion carried. Commissioners and staff acknowledged the low probability of funding but said the county needed to be "in the game" to be considered.
