Greenburgh police present vehicle‑leasing plan with Enterprise to refresh aging fleet and reduce operating costs

Kobe Powell, Greenburgh’s chief of police, urged the town board to consider leasing patrol and other municipal vehicles through Enterprise Fleet Management as a way to “operate more efficiently and safely.” Powell introduced Enterprise representatives and said recent internal reviews showed the police fleet is aging: 36% of vehicles are over 10 years old and, at the current acquisition rate, the fleet would turn over on a roughly 13‑year cycle.

An Enterprise presenter described a municipal “open‑end” lease designed for government use and said the company had benchmarked the town’s 67‑vehicle fleet, modeled multiple phase‑in schedules and projected just under $1 million in net savings over a 10‑year horizon if the town followed a staged leasing plan. The presenter said leasing would lower the average fleet age, reduce maintenance and fuel costs and allow the town to roll resale equity into future purchases or lease payments.

The presenter told the board that Enterprise’s analysis used the town’s historical maintenance and fuel spending as a baseline (the presentation cited about $350,000 in annual maintenance and roughly $119,000 in fuel for a combined fleet budget of about $814,000) and modeled scenarios that began with 10 leased vehicles in year one and reached a fully leased 67‑vehicle fleet by year five. He emphasized the leases are structured differently than consumer leases and that residual equity from vehicle resale would roll into subsequent years’ budgets.

Board members asked about procurement and financing. A board member asked whether capital budgets and bond financing rules would allow leasing; the controller said leases and long‑term borrowing are both treated as debt service on the balance sheet and that staff could run amortization comparisons between bonds and lease payables. Another board member asked whether outfitting police vehicles (radios, lights, pursuit‑specific gear) was factored into the model. Enterprise said the cost of police upfits was included in its quotes and that some equipment can be transferred between vehicles to lower replacement costs.

Several members requested references from other municipal police clients and asked staff to prepare a side‑by‑side analysis comparing lease payables to bond amortization and total cost of ownership. The board did not take formal action; staff and the controller were asked to bring detailed, itemized proposals and sample vehicle quotes for further review.

The board’s next procedural step is for the controller to prepare amortization and lease‑vs‑purchase comparisons and for Enterprise to supply itemized quotes and municipal references.