Washington hopes for new police car

WASHINGTON — City officials plan on taking out a loan to purchase a new police vehicle, scheduling a public hearing on the matter for Dec. 20 at 6 p.m., Washington’s next regular city council meeting. The loan is “not to exceed $80,000” according to a motion passed last week.

Washington Police Chief Jim Lester said while one car had recently returned to service after repairs, two others had run virtually non-stop for weeks while the other was at the shop.

“The way we have it now, our patrol units, several of them are running 24/7,” he said. “They idle a lot. I’ve been told an hour of idle time is about 33 miles, so as they idle — because of the equipment they have in them that needs to (be) idle — that adds to that mileage.”

An additional car would put the department’s vehicles on a four-year rotation, something Lester said would save on maintenance costs and maximize resale value.

“It’s feasible and worthwhile for us to have an extra unit in our fleet,” he said. “It helps keep the miles down on all the vehicles as we rotate through there to have a higher trade-in value and higher resale value if we don’t trade it in.”

Lester said the city needed to decide sooner rather than later, citing long delays in vehicle production times.

“Police vehicles are hard to find,” he said. “If we’re going to want one next budget year, we’d better let them know soon.”

Lester said the $64,552.84 purchase and upfitting cost for the 2023 Ford Interceptor was not budgeted for by the police department, but that the city could afford the loan using revenue from unrelated accounts.

“There (are) funds available using LOST (Local Option Sales Tax) funds that could cover it,” he said. “And I also believe in the capital equipment plan … there’s enough there for the first year payment.”

Comments: Kalen.McCain@southeastiowaunion.com