SOUTH HUTCHINSON, Kan. — The South Hutchinson City Council will consider a vehicle swap within its departments at its meeting on Monday.
According to agenda documents, the South Hutchinson Police Department currently uses two vehicles that are not police pursuit rated and there are some concerns about potential liability to the city in the event of an accident. Those vehicles are a 2021 Dodge Ram 1500 and 2020 Dodge Durango.
Public Works Department work trucks for the city are extremely old and have been driven past their useful life.
The departments are proposing that the public works purchase the 2021 Dodge Ram for $30,000, which would be paid for via internal transfer in the capital equipment fund.
A new 2023 Durango for police usage will cost approximately $39,000 plus the upfitting which is estimated to cost $12,000. The total cost for this vehicle will be approximately $51,000.
Chief Pickering also desires to swap out the 2020 Dodge Durango for another 2023 Durango. After purchasing the new vehicle and upfitting costs of approximately $20,000, the total cost for the second vehicle would be about $60,000.
After accounting for the $30,000 internal trade to the public works department and the estimated $22,500 trade-in value for the 2020 Durango, the police department would have a net expenditure of approximately $58,500.
At the end of 2022, the police department had $49,900.94 in its capital equipment reserve account with another $4,670 owed to it by way of uncompleted transfers.
In 2023, the city budgeted $65,000 for transfers into the police department’s capital reserve fund.
In theory, the department has nearly $120,000 available for equipment expenditures.
The financial impact is approximately $58,500 net expense out of the police department reserves for the purchase of the two vehicles.
The South Hutchinson City Council meets Monday at 6 p.m. at 2 South Main.
CLICK HERE to download the Hutch Post mobile app.
CLICK HERE to sign up for the daily Hutch Post email news update.