Greenwich fleet manager: parts, fuel and aging vehicles are driving up operating costs

Jay, who oversees the town’s fleet, told the board the department faces rising parts prices, longer lead times for electronic components and the need to catch up on deferred vehicle replacements.

The Chair opened the discussion by noting a proposed 5% increase to the fleet operating budget and that the motor fuel and lubricants line shows roughly a 30% increase. Jay said the town began fueling school buses this year — about 80,000 gallons — and that Board of Education fuel purchases are billed back monthly, which offsets much of the apparent increase.

"We're now having the school buses fuel at our location," Jay said. "If you look at that big increase and then go to the 920 account... that's all coming back out because we build the Board of Education every month for that allotment fuel. So it's basically budget neutral."

A committee member asked about staffing and whether the fleet can keep up with repairs. Jay said a long vacancy for a heavy-duty technician was filled three weeks ago after nearly three years trying to recruit someone qualified. He said hiring an automotive mechanic will free heavy-duty staff to concentrate on apparatus, which should reduce fire-vehicle downtime.

"Hiring the automotive mechanic now frees up a guy to go back on heavy duty work," Jay said. "Right now, the heavy duty guys are also covering the cars, the pickup trucks, the light duty equipment. So that frees one up."

Board members and Jay discussed whether to restore two shifts. Jay said one shift currently works better because limited shop space and parts shortages make a night shift difficult and potentially unsafe; reopening a night shift would require additional hiring and impose minimum staffing levels per shift.

On parts costs, Jay gave specific examples of steep price increases since the COVID era — a small kit that used to cost pennies now sells for about $94 and front tires for apparatus run roughly $1,100 each — and said electronics-driven obsolescence often forces dealer programming and longer repair cycles.

"Prices are ridiculous," Jay said. "The parts have gone off the wall since COVID. Tires have gone off the wall. The older trucks need more parts, but the prices have just gone off the wall and they keep going."

Jay described the town's replacement guidance for capital planning — fire apparatus frontline roughly 10 years, spares 15–20; big dump trucks about 12–15 years; pickups and cars about 10 years — and said deferred capital and cuts have pushed many spare vehicles well beyond recommended service lives, driving an immediate need to 'catch up.'

The Chair asked for clearer CIP detail and for staff to provide breakout sheets where some items now appear across multiple budget lines. Jay said the fleet is in "catch up mode" and welcomed clearer coordination with DPW and finance on planned building upgrades, fueling canopies and above-ground storage if warranted.

The board did not take a formal vote on operating or capital requests during this discussion. The meeting moved next to capital-specific items and tanker purchases.