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 per-vehicle cost projections and urging local maintenance solutions.

Enterprise Fleet Services, the vendor offering a managed lease program, told the council its analysis is a planning tool and that vehicle-level financial schedules are amortized over roughly four to five years. Nick, the Enterprise representative, said operational items such as outfitting, maintenance and selected equipment were included in the financial analysis and that the company provides recommendations but does not unilaterally decide which vehicles the city purchases or sells.

Disagreement also focused on process and oversight. Some council members and the mayor said they had heard citizens' concerns on social media and requested clearer public answers; Enterprise and staff replied that vehicle specifications, equipment and any resale decisions would be reviewed and approved by city staff and that Enterprise’s role is advisory and administrative. In response to a mayoral Facebook post asserting Enterprise would immediately “sell” the chief’s new Tahoe and lease it back, the vendor said that characterization was incorrect and that annual client reviews and city sign-offs are part of the process.

The finance director and city staff walked the council through the proposed budget book and the accounting treatment for fleet: rather than leaving vehicle repair and fuel scattered across department budgets, the proposed plan moves fleet lease, maintenance and capital schedule items into a dedicated fleet fund and offsets those costs by removing some existing repair lines and recognizing resale equity where applicable. The budget packet shows the fiscal-year impact in the right-hand column labeled “FY26 proposed budget with fleet.”

Council heard multiple public commenters who emphasized immediate safety risks: police cruisers and fire apparatus have been in for repairs simultaneously, and speakers asked how the city would guarantee first-responder readiness. Supporters of the leasing plan argued it would keep the average vehicle age low, reduce unexpected downtime and, over time, lower repair and operating costs.

The council did not adopt the budget at the meeting. Instead, after an extended line-by-line review and multiple requests for clarifying materials (including a request to provide the proposed contract language for review), members agreed by consensus to move the proposed budget forward for further consideration and to ask staff for follow-up information on contract terms, cash-on-hand calculations for pooled funds, and specific policy language that would preserve council oversight of vehicle resale or replacement decisions.

The city’s finance director confirmed the water/sewer fund and general fund are currently maintained in a pooled bank structure and that the staff are completing reconciliations and audits that will provide clearer liquid-cash numbers. The director said the new accounting approach and audit completion (expected in coming months) will make distinctions between fund assets and cash-on-hand more transparent.

Next steps: Council asked staff to provide the draft master agreement with Enterprise, a clarified breakdown of how fleet costs and offsets appear in the FY26 proposal, and follow-up information on the water/sewer cash position and franchise-fee revenue; no final vote on budget adoption or a fleet contract occurred at the Sept. 11 meeting.