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Washington council approves amended fire‑protection agreement and locks a lease option to acquire two new pumpers
Summary
The Washington City Council approved an amended service agreement with the Washington Community Fire Protection District and accepted a proposal from McQueen Emergency Group to secure two Pierce pumpers via a lease/purchase plan, citing long lead times and rising costs; the measures passed by voice vote Oct. 20.
Council in Washington, Missouri, voted Oct. 20 to approve changes to the city’s fire‑protection service agreement and to accept a proposal that would put the city in line for two new Pierce pumper trucks through a lease‑purchase arrangement.
City staff told the council the district agreement (ordinance 7b) clarifies ownership and lease language for apparatus and proposes increasing the city’s share of tax revenue from about 20% to 25% while removing an annual $100,000 capital/stipend credit that had previously been applied. The ordinance passed by voice vote.
On the related equipment item (ordinance 7c), staff said lead times for custom fire apparatus are now long—“31 to 36” months—and that prices have risen substantially. Staff presented a lease‑purchase option with PNC Bank as the lender that would allow the city to lock current pricing and realize a prepayment discount. Staff described the potential prepayment/lease discount as roughly $178,000–$200,000 (about a 10% reduction of the immediate purchase cost) and said the lease structure historically used by the city would push payments across 10–12 years with interest‑only payments in early years. As staff put it, “This is becoming very big numbers very quickly.” (quote from city staff presenting the item.)
Staff reported the city has budgeted about $1.1 million for the truck currently moving into production and said about $90,000 has been spent to date on interest related to that vehicle. Staff also said that if the city signs the manufacturing/ordering contract now but a planned capital sales tax later fails, there are options to adjust or sell the units prior to final acceptance; “It gives us about 30 months to figure out what to do from a funding standpoint,” staff said.
Staff estimated typical annual price growth on trucks before 2020 at 3–5% and warned of near‑term quarterly price increases; they also noted a scheduled price increase of about 0.75% on Nov. 1. For financing, staff reported an estimated current lease payment on an existing unit is roughly $120,000–$126,000 per year (approximate). The council was told that delivery and full in‑service status could occur in late 2028 or 2029 because of production and mounting timelines.
Council approved acceptance of the McQueen Emergency Group proposal and the ordinance to authorize the city to proceed; staff said a separate lease ordinance (the formal PNC lease) would be brought back to council as required. The approvals were passed by voice vote. The city flagged that final funding still depends on capital‑sales‑tax outcomes and other funding decisions the council may make in coming months.
