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Council staff outline $250 hourly rate for outside use of city back truck, propose emergency exception
Summary
City staff presented a formula used to calculate an hourly cost for the municipal back truck and recommended charging other jurisdictions $250 per hour for non-emergency projects while treating emergency responses differently.
City staff discussed a proposed policy for charging other jurisdictions to use Mount Pleasant’s municipal back truck at the March 25 work session.
Staff member (unnamed) presented the cost model used to calculate the hourly rate, saying the truck’s purchase price was $400,000, the city averaged about 300 hours of use per year over 16.5 years and the resulting annual ownership cost was roughly $25,000. Using those figures produced a base equipment cost of about $83.33 per hour; staff then doubled that amount to cover maintenance and added labor and overhead (two workers at about $40 each) to reach a non-emergency billing rate the presenter described as $250 per hour.
Staff member (unnamed) said the city had sometimes rented the truck to contractors and other towns at discounted rates and noted project work — such as culvert cleaning or utility locating — would be billed at the $250 hourly project rate. By contrast, staff recommended not charging other cities for emergency responses, citing an example when a neighboring city responded within 20 minutes to a flooding incident; the presenter said they preferred responding immediately in emergencies and “deal with it afterwards.”
Jeff (staff member) was credited with helping run the cost calculations; Colter (staff member) was identified in the discussion as the person who would confirm whether a request was a project (billable) or an emergency (not billed under the proposed guidance). The presenters said invoices would be prepared by city staff (Natalie was named as the person who would send invoices) once mutual-aid requests were confirmed.
Councilmembers and staff discussed tracking in-house project time separately to document cost savings when the truck is used on city projects rather than contracted out. The presenters also noted prior examples where contractors rented the truck back for a lower rate and where work for a private irrigation company was billed to that company.
No formal motion or vote on the proposed $250 hourly rate was recorded in the transcript. The presenters said they would prepare the paperwork and billing procedures and implement the rate if council was comfortable with the approach.
