Darien Police Emerge from Budget Debate with 13 New Squad Cars

In a surprising turn, the Darien Police Department likely will get a new fleet of squad cars during fiscal year 2012.

The Administrative and Finance Committee of the Whole met Tuesday for its first review of next year’s city budget and added a 13 car replacement fleet back into the plan.

 When the Police Department compiled its budget requests earlier this year, Deputy Police Chief John Cooper recommended the city replace the 13 squad cars. The department has 27 vehicles total. During his budget analysis, City Administrator Bryon Vana suggested the police should wait one more year. 

If the city put off leasing a new fleet for one more year, it would save, on average, nearly $51,000 a year during the next five-year lease cycle, according to a Friday memo from Vana. The cost of initiating the new lease during FY 2012 is about $35,500, the memo said. 

The fleet is into the fifth year of what was originally a three-year lease. During each of the past two years, the City Council has approved an extension of the lease by one more year.

Police Chief Robert Pavelchik said Tuesday that he was not comfortable continuing the lease into a sixth year. The mileage on the squad cars ranges from about 70,000 to roughly 92,000 miles, he said, noting that Downers Grove retires its squad cars after 75,000 miles.

“The original goal was three [years]," he said. "We came back with a four-year plan because we realized, you know what, four was a better number. We learned that through experience. But I don’t think six is a good number. Five we’ve hedged our bets a little bit.”

Vana questioned what part of his analysis, which included roughly $13,000 for car maintenance and repairs, Pavelchik disagreed with.

“Most of our equipment and things we buy, we do try to stretch out,” Vana said. “The council has done that for many years, and I think the fact we’ve done this with police vehicles a few years makes the decision itself not a bad one. It’s just a matter of how do we think the fleet will survive another year.”

The committee considered several options during its review of the budget item: extending the current lease by one year; taking advantage of a $20,000 federal grant by replacing three cars in 2012 and leasing the rest in 2013; or replacing 13 squad cars with the help of the $20,000 grant. 

Pavelchik rejected the compromise of replacing three cars because it would prompt a return to the city’s old fleet management plan that required the city to lease new cars every year, rather than replacing all of them in a single sweep every few years.

Replacing the cars all at once decreases set-up costs and helps maintain continuity between the cars, he said. 

After the discussion, the committee overwhelmingly supported replacing the entire fleet.

The Administrative and Finance Committee will continue its budget review Feb. 23, including specific financial details of the lease and other items it did not get to during Tuesday’s meeting.