FARMINGTON – The Board of Selectmen approved the scheduling of a special town meeting for Oct. 14, so residents can vote on a lease/purchase agreement for a new front-end loader.
The loader would replace a 1989 Caterpillar that lost its transmission last month. One of two front end loaders owned by the town, the piece of equipment is used for a variety of public works tasks, including moving sand and loading trucks during winter storms. After the storm, the front end loaders are utilized throughout the downtown area to remove piles of snow.
With repairs to the transmission significantly exceeding the value of the 25-year-old loader, which has logged 19,200 hours of work, selectmen had previously asked public works and town officials to look into funding options for a replacement.
Bids have been requested and are expected to come back in the $150,000 to $175,000 range, when proposals are due on Oct. 9. With the town’s annual capital equipment reserve account totally depleted, and a looming public works project off Front Street expected to further reduce the $1.8 million unassigned fund, Town Manager Richard Davis said that a lease/purchase agreement represented the best way to acquire a replacement loader.
A five- or seven-year lease/purchase agreement would result in annual payments between $25,000 and $40,000, Davis said, depending on the cost of the loader, the interest rate – anticipated between 3 and 3.5 percent – and the length of the lease. At the conclusion of the agreement, the town would own the loader.
The special town meeting would be to appropriate the first payment for the agreement, which would be due upon the closing of the lease. That amount would appear on the meeting warrant as “an amount not to exceed $40,000” and the money would come out of the unassigned fund.
Executing the agreement immediately following the special town meeting would likely yield a new loader by November, Davis said. Meanwhile, the Public Works Department would be renting a front-end loader at the cost of $4,000 per month in order to complete projects, such as the stockpiling of sand for winter road maintenance.
There would be no penalty to pay off the lease/purchase agreement early, Davis said, and some selectmen expressed a desire to pay off the remaining balance of the agreement at the annual town meeting next year. That would actually bring the town back in line with its equipment maintenance plan, as the front-end loader was scheduled to be replaced next year. The plan was derailed in 2012, after a 2004 Sterling plow truck was destroyed by an engine fire.
There may be one or two other, minor items appearing on the special town meeting warrant, Davis noted.
Last week we got the news our taxes would be going up AGAIN this year – a fairly significant increase from my calculations. We bought a $117,000 sidewalk plow a couple of months ago – on a lease purchase agreement. I don’t recall the cost of that. Now we’re looking another lease/purchase agreement on another piece of equipment. There is no doubt in my mind a new loader is needed…that ole Cat was “tender” years ago. Greg kept it going by the skin of his teeth. So…does that mean we’ll be looking at a significant increase in the Highway Dept? I’ve heard rumors the selectmen want to put $250,000 into equipment reserve so we don’t have to go into lease-purchase for equipment. I understand that.
But people…when does it stop??? Is there another department that will take a significant decrease so our taxes won’t go up again? Nope. Is the school going to quit spending ridiculous amount of money so our taxes will not go up again? Nope. So…what’s a tax payer going to do? Stop eating???
So…we’re supposed to bite the bullet, go without as tax payers, while the town and school dept keep on spending. Well, frankly, I’m to the point I’m about to take some action. Anyone with me??
@ Nancy: How about you make up some of those great Lobster Pies you used to sell in your restaurant and sell slices in stores around? You ought to be able to afford most anything you want after that! Yum!!