Ellis County approves leases for sheriff and county vehicles totaling several hundred thousand dollars

Ellis County Commissioners on Thursday approved multiple vehicle lease agreements to equip the sheriff’s office and county departments, a package officials said will add or refresh roughly 15 vehicles to the county fleet.

EJ Harbin, representing American National Leasing, told the court the agreements include three-year leases for Chevrolet Tahoe police pursuit vehicles and Chevrolet Silverado pursuit vehicles for the sheriff’s office and five-year leases for GMC Sierra pickups for engineering and facilities. He said leases carry an interest rate of about 5.53% and include down payments ($25,000 for law-enforcement vehicles, $5,000 for the five-year pickups). “American National Leasing will fund the lease for the sheriff’s office Tahoes and the pickup trucks under the agreement with a $25,000 down payment each with a 3 year lease at a lease rate of 5.53% interest,” Harbin said.

Commissioners pressed staff on whether the vehicles are replacements or additions. Harbin said the sheriff’s fleet was last reported at about 107 vehicles and that the current package represents approximately 15 additional or replacement vehicles. “Right now, we do not have any vehicles that have been tagged as going to auction, so these are additions at this time,” Harbin said. Commissioners and other speakers expressed concern about the high cost of upfits to convert a chassis into a patrol vehicle and whether upfits retain resale value. One commissioner said leasing made sense early in the program but recommended re-evaluating the practice given changes in equipment compatibility and higher interest rates.

Harbin said leasing firms and remarketing partners (American National and Enterprise) can remarket expired vehicles to other law-enforcement agencies, which would allow recovery of some upfit value. He also said radios are not included in the upfit package and typically are transferred into new vehicles.

The court voted to approve the purchasing agenda item, authorizing the specified lease agreements to move forward. The motion to approve came from Commissioner Grayson and, per the record, was seconded and passed without recorded opposition.

What’s next: Commissioners asked staff to continue evaluating whether leasing or purchasing provides the best long-term value given upfit costs and vehicle turnover. The court did not set further conditions when it approved the leases.