FARMINGTON — Selectmen voted Tuesday to hold a special town meeting on Tuesday, Oct. 14, for residents to consider appropriating an amount not to exceed $40,000 for the first payment on a five-year lease-purchase agreement to buy a new front-end loader, Town Manager Richard Davis said Wednesday.
The loader would replace a 1989 Caterpillar loader with a broken transmission. Estimates to fix the transmission were nearly $20,000.
The loader, which has 19,276 hours of running time — the equivalent of 700,000 miles — was supposed to be replaced next year, Greg Soule, shop manager of the Public Works Department, told the board on Aug. 12. He also told them that he didn’t feel it was in the town’s best interest to put money into the old machine only to have something else go on it.
“We don’t have the money on hand to buy a new loader outright,” Davis said.
They are seeking bids on a new loader, which is estimated to cost $150,000 to $175,000. Bids will be back before the town meeting, he said.
The board had discussed Tuesday whether to go with a five-year or a seven-year lease-purchase agreement, Davis said.
If they go with a five-year plan, the payments would be higher, but the interest would be lower. If they go with a seven-year plan, the payments would be lower but the interest would be higher, Davis said.
The board chose to go with the five-year agreement.
He suggested they hold a special town meeting to ask voters to appropriate up to $40,000 to cover the first payment.
If voters approve the money, Davis said, he will go to banks to get bids on financing the loader with no penalty for prepayment.
Selectmen talked about making the first payment this year and paying the machine off in next year’s budget, he said.
The Public Works Department’s equipment reserve account was depleted when a 2004 plow truck burned and several other equipment repairs were needed.
The board went with a new tandem-axle 2013 truck with a plow setup and a new dump body that was estimated to cost more than $130,000 in 2012.
The insurance payment for the burned truck chassis was approximately $16,000 and the remainder of the money came out of the equipment reserve account.
dperry@sunjournal.com
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