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Committee approves $7.3M lease schedule for DPW equipment; members request equipment inventory
Summary
The Finance Executive Committee approved an amendment to the city—s JPMorgan Chase master lease to acquire replacement Public Works equipment and vehicles, authorizing up to $7.3 million in new lease schedules and related FY25 budget adjustments. Council members requested an itemized equipment and replacement plan from Public Works.
The Finance Executive Committee approved a substitute to add a lease schedule to the city's master lease with JPMorgan Chase Bank to acquire replacement equipment and vehicles for the Department of Public Works.
Courtney Knight, chief of treasury, said the master lease, originally executed in February 2022, allows the city to finance vehicles and equipment cost-effectively by adding schedules for specific acquisitions. The substitute authorizes the acquisition at an amount not to exceed $7,300,000 and authorizes the CFO to amend the FY25 solid waste R&E fund budget to add anticipations and appropriations in amounts described in the substitute.
Councilmember Hillis asked DPW for an itemized list of equipment, condition metrics, replacement plans and whether items would be surplus; Keith Robinson, deputy commissioner for DPW, said the department could provide the requested inventory and noted a vehicle replacement plan that schedules replacements over the next four to five years. "We can definitely provide you that document, and council as well too. We do have a vehicle replacement plan where we have what should be replaced each year over the next 4 or 5 years," Robinson told the committee.
Councilmember Specter (asked as "Miss Spectrier" in the transcript) asked whether the package would tap special-operations funds used for smaller equipment and beautification. Robinson and finance staff said the equipment financing in the lease schedule is for vehicles and equipment and would not consume beautification allocations; special-operations funding for smaller equipment remains separate.
A councilmember asked about recent federal discussions to end tax-exempt status for municipal bonds. Knight said that if tax-exempt status were removed, financing costs for such leases would rise substantially (he estimated roughly a 35% increase in cost in that hypothetical scenario) and that larger borrowers such as Atlanta would be better positioned than smaller municipalities. The city did not change policy at the meeting based on that federal discussion; the lease schedule was approved and DPW agreed to provide the requested equipment inventory.
The substitute was approved by committee and will proceed to the next steps for execution under the master lease.
