Wichita County commissioners approved vendor estimates on Dec. 30 to upfit two new Chevy Silverado pickups and eight Chevy Tahoes, and authorized an internal transfer to cover any budget shortfalls.

The action, moved by Commissioner Beauchamp and seconded by Commissioner Fincannon, directs that the listed estimates be paid from department 560 (noted in backup as previously 561) from 2026 budget funds and authorizes a transfer from department 409 if needed. The motion passed 4-0.

Why it matters: Commissioners debated whether to accept vehicles and pay upfitting costs now or delay until later in the year. Supporters said early delivery and better supply-chain conditions reduce costs and downtime for older vehicles; critics warned that taking on large expenditures so early could limit the court’s flexibility for other requests later in the fiscal year.

Details: Staff presented multiple vendor estimates for upfitting work (individual estimate identifiers were garbled in the transcript). Presented amounts included $32,840.45; $29,540.45; $21,590.73; $205,394.29; and $37,504.16 for specific upfit line items across the vehicle set. Staff said one costlier vehicle was a canine unit and that upfit configurations (lights, radios, cages on some vehicles) were driving variance in per-vehicle cost. A staff member noted upfit work can approach roughly $30,000 per fully outfitted vehicle depending on configuration.

Sheriff’s office and vendor logistics: County staff said several purchased vehicles were located at the vendor (Defender), ear-tagged for Wichita County and available sooner than anticipated. When asked whether the vendor would charge storage for vehicles kept on its lot, staff said no. The sheriff (unnamed in the record) described the outfitting package as "the whole outfit — lights, cameras. Ready to go."

Fiscal context: County finance staff (identified in the record as Matt) provided a year-end revenue update before the final vote: the county had received about $57,800,000 in revenue against a $54,000,000 budget and had expended approximately $56,100,000, producing roughly $1,600,000 in excess receipts to date; staff also noted a payroll accrual at year end for nine days (amount in the transcript was unclear). Commissioners said these trends and the fact purchases were already budgeted supported moving forward.

Next steps: Staff will process the authorized transfers and finalize vendor billing and scheduling; commissioners asked staff to monitor cashflow and be prepared to deny later requests if budget conditions warrant.