In the ongoing move to improve the trucks used by the town’s Highway Department, the Brookfield Town Board agreed to a price for a truck up for auction.
At their meeting last week, Board members debated whether to continue to bid on the truck, a 2021 Western Star with only 29,000 miles.
The concern, said Supervisor Loren Corbin, was juggling cash flow as the end of the year nears before the 2025 budget starts. “If this were January or February no problem,’’ he said.
Adding to the cash flow issues is a payment for a 2024 truck that has not arrived, and coming up, a payment for a 2025 truck on order.
To help with those, the Board agreed to borrow $285,000 that will be taken care of by revenues from the Highway Department expected later this month and in 2025.
Corbin also pointed out the Highway Department is $25,000 over budget on machinery with another $5,000 added on after paying the bills at the meeting.
Years ago the town purchased a number of International trucks that have
since plagued the town with expensive repairs and long periods of inactivity.
Corbin said most of the $30,000 over the budgeted cost is on the old Internationals.
Board members approved having Highway Superintendent Paul Owens bid up to $130,000 for the 2021 truck. That night the bidding was over $100,000.
Along with that, Councilman Clint Abrams said the town needs a detailed and accurate inventory of everything in the Highway Department building and Town Hall.
He cited the towns of Ohio and Marshall, who lost much of their Highway inventory to fires, as a need to know for insurance and replacement purposes.
“Imagine starting over ...
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