Levy County moves forward on nearly $897,000 road-equipment purchase plan to address aging fleet

The county’s road department presented an equipment purchase plan for fiscal year 2026 totaling $896,963.82 and asked the commission for approval to buy a range of equipment to improve service reliability and public safety.

The road presenter said much of the county fleet is aged and unreliable—pointing to multiple vehicles with more than 130,000 miles and heavy equipment dating back to the 1980s—and argued that replacing or leasing equipment would reduce downtime, improve safety and increase efficiency. He described a plan to split mowing operations into three sections to improve coverage and suggested a mix of purchases and rentals while noting many large items (for example Gradalls) are better suited to lease arrangements.

Commissioners and residents asked about alternatives to outright purchase, including leasing and contracting, and a resident urged staff to provide a clear cost/benefit analysis before pushing large purchases. Staff responded that some pieces on the presented list are unsuitable for lease because they lack resale value; others could be leased or rented. The presenter said funding could come from the equipment replacement fund, discretionary sales surtax and transfers from the general fund, and noted about $7.6 million was reserved for future capital and roughly $4 million available in one fund component; staff recommended using equipment replacement reserves as appropriate.

Commissioners expressed support for tackling aging equipment to improve roads and public-facing services and directed staff to proceed with procurement planning and to present further analysis where leasing might be preferable to purchase.