Police present $1.6 million FY2021 vehicle need; commission weighs discretionary fund balance

Captain Andrew Clark, assigned to administrative services at the West Palm Beach Police Department, told the City Commission on July 7 that the department projects roughly $1.6 million in vehicle needs for fiscal 2021 to cover 19 replacement vehicles, 10 additions tied to planned staff increases and one community-service aide (CSA) vehicle.

Clark said the department’s in-service fleet totals about 372 vehicles — 173 marked, 117 unmarked and 82 specialty vehicles — and that collective-bargaining replacement criteria (8 years or 140,000 miles for marked vehicles) drives a steady replacement schedule. Clark said the department uses the state contract for vehicle purchases and contracts with a vendor for police-specific build-outs; he gave a per-vehicle build-out cost of $14,621 and said the total new-vehicle cost staff used in planning was about $57,002 per new addition and roughly $52,000 for a replacement when some…