Fairfield school district leases 12 new buses

The Fairfield school district has a new fleet of 12 buses.

At a special meeting Sept. 3, the school board approved a lease purchase agreement for 12 new buses with BB Community Leasing Services.

District Transportation Director Mark Branch said that the 12 new buses are replacing 16 older buses.

“We have reduced and consolidated routes over the past four years by one or two a year,” Branch said. “We thought it was a good time with 12 regular routes and 12 new buses.”

Branch said that the district had been spending about $200,000 a year purchasing two new buses each year.

The lease purchase agreement has the district paying $184,000 a year for five years.

“We’ll be saving the district about $65,000 a year over the next five years,” Branch said.

At the end of the lease, the district has the option of making a final payment of $278,000 to complete the purchase of the buses.

The district will make the payment with revenue from the regular and voter-approved Physical Plant and Equipment Levy (PPEL) and Secure and Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) money from the state of Iowa.

The lease is financed through Iowa State Bank.

Branch explained that companies that sell buses often use third-party financial organizations to handle the leases.

“It’s no different than if we leased it through the bus company,” Branch said. “We chose to use our local bank and keep our money local.”