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Peters Township approves new pumper truck for fire department

By Harry Funk staff Writer hfunk@thealmanac.Net 3 min read
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A new pumper truck has been approved for Peters Township Fire Department.

Township council voted 6-1 Monday to award a $521,204 contract with Glick Fire Equipment of Jackson Township, Butler County, for the purchase of vehicle built by Pierce Manufacturing, the world’s largest fire apparatus company. Gary Stiegel Jr., council chairman, opposed the measure.

“I think that we probably have one too many trucks there,” he said. “I’m not saying to get rid of a truck that’s there right now. As far as I’m concerned, you keep it for however long, until it nickels and dimes you.”

The new vehicle replaces a 2006 pumper that was placed in service as a rescue truck. The fire department intends to sell it.

“A target price for this would probably be $70,000,” Chief Michael McLaughlin said.

The township’s 2022 budget contains a $500,000 allocation for a pumper truck. The expenditure as approved, though, is lower than what could have been expected as early as February.

“If we were to wait until past Jan. 31, there would be a 5% increase in this truck, and then there would be an additional surcharge for materials of $17,153,” township manager Paul Lauer said. “So placing the order now is going to save about $43,000.”

While the original intention was to borrow money for the purchase, the township can use part of the $2,307,368 it is receiving through the federal American Rescue Plan, which provides $350 billion in emergency funding for state and local governments. Prior to the Jan. 6 announcement of the plan’s final regulations, municipalities faced certain requirements for how the money could be spent.

“They changed how you would calculate lost revenue replacement for government service due to COVID-19,” Lauer said. “I think they’re doing this to increase flexibility, particularly for smaller municipalities, and to get them out from under a lot of federal regulations.”

Most municipalities, Peters included, now are able to claim a “standard allowance” of up to $10 million in lost revenue, eliminating the need to itemize expenditures.

“That’s kind of analogous to a standard deduction on your taxes,” Lauer said.

According to the U.S. Treasury, recipients of American Rescue Plan grants “are permitted to use that amount (not to exceed the award amount) to fund ‘government services.'”

For Peters Township, the wide-open pronouncement allows for spending on a variety of projects that otherwise would have required municipal funding. Lauer mentioned scheduled street reconstructions and mandated waterway improvements as examples.

In December, he requested township department heads start the process of getting price quotes for items budgeted in 2022, in anticipation of continued price increases related to supply issues and costs of raw materials.

“As expected, the market for fire apparatus is just as, or more, unpredictable than that of the current passenger vehicle market,” McLaughlin wrote in a Jan. 19 memo to Lauer.

The chief told council delivery of the pumper, which the township is buying through the state’s COSTARS cooperative purchasing program, is expected to occur by December or next January.

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