Northfield Council leans to defer fire truck, shift funding to roads and sewer

CFO Stollenwerk presented the council with a capital plan showing roughly $9.8 million in project requests and a limited remaining balance after vehicle purchases. She told council that, after funding the fire truck and several vehicles, "only left $250,000.00 for roads and $250,000.00 for sewer improvements." Stollenwerk also said radar units cost about $2,200 and proposed placing a drone in next year's operating budget rather than capital.

Council members debated priorities. Councilman Smith argued other projects should take precedence, noting the fire truck accounted for about one-fifth of the plan and that he was uncertain it was the best use of funds. Councilman Polistina and Councilman Dewees supported rebalancing capital toward road and sewer repairs. After discussion, Bucci took a straw poll: all members present except Councilwoman Carfagno favored removing the truck from the immediate capital plan, adding approximately $20,000 for a drone, and putting the freed funds toward roads and sewer work.

The CFO said the change is not yet a binding appropriation and that bond counsel and bid timelines would affect final steps. She recommended placing the revised list in the budget appendix at the next meeting and noted that introducing an ordinance would create some costs with bond counsel. The council did not take a formal binding vote on the truck purchase during the work session; the straw poll will inform the ordinance introduction and timing.