Keene council advances FY2026 budget review amid heated debate over fleet leasing plan

Keene’s city council spent the bulk of a special Sept. 11 meeting debating whether to include a proposed fleet leasing program in the FY2025–26 budget and how that choice would affect other priorities such as street repairs and water infrastructure.

The dispute cut across safety, accounting and long-term planning. City Manager Jonathan Sykes and finance staff told the council the city’s 29-vehicle fleet has an average age of 17 years and that specialized police and fire vehicles cost about $80,000 each to replace. “The average age of those 29 vehicles is 17 years old,” Sykes said in the meeting, arguing the city cannot continue to “band-aid” an aging fleet without more sustainable funding.

Residents and several council members pushed back, saying the recurring cost of a fleet program — estimated in the budget materials as roughly $446,244 in fleet-related expenses with a net budgetary impact after offsets of about $306,084 — could preclude spending on roads, waterlines and other maintenance. “For $13 plus a year, For $400,000 a year, we can't get a mechanic,” Nathan Cosme told the council, questioning…