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Somers board approves $555,439 vacuum truck with watershed grant to speed stormwater maintenance
Summary
Somers Town Board authorized purchase of a 10-yard vacuum truck for $555,439, with the Northern Westchester watershed committee contributing $269,179 and the town covering the remainder from general fund balances. Officials said owning the vehicle will reduce annual rental costs and accelerate catch-basin cleaning.
The Somers Town Board on Oct. 2 authorized the purchase of a 10-cubic-yard vacuum truck for $555,439 and accepted a $269,179 contribution from the Northern Westchester watershed committee to offset the cost. The motion to execute the vendor quote was approved during the board’s work session.
Board members framed the purchase as a long-running operational need: the town maintains roughly 3,000 catch basins and must clean them twice per year under new stormwater regulations. Town officials said renting a vac truck for the work at current frequencies would cost the town more than $1 million per year, so buying a truck will consolidate operations for the highway and water-and-sewer departments and shorten a backlog of maintenance tasks.
Meeting discussion described the purchase split: $269,179 from the regional watershed committee and $286,260 from Somers’s general fund balances. The board did not specify additional financing mechanisms or recurring operating costs tied to the new vehicle during the session.
The agenda memo referenced a specific model and vendor; the board authorized the supervisor to sign the vendor quote so the order can proceed. The motion passed with an affirmative vote. Next steps include executing the purchase agreement and integrating the truck into scheduled maintenance; no delivery date was provided in the meeting record.
