The borough of Tamaqua will be adding some new trucks to its vehicle fleet in the near future. After a lengthy discussion, council unanimously approved the purchase of a new dump truck, which will cost in around $80,000 and a new wheel loader, which could cost approximately $170,000.

Chairman of the building and equipment committee Dan Evans provided a detailed summary of the current state of the building and equipment fund, which has approximately $100,000 in it. That's the balance before the 2015 tax allotment of 1 mill, which will be another $70,000 by the end of the year.Out of that, the borough has a $12,400 obligation for the second of three payments on a police vehicle and will also be purchasing a 2003 backhoe from the water authority for approximately $12,000. The borough will be trading in the 1993 backhoe it owns.Evans said the borough's current dump truck, a 1993 GMC, will most likely fail its next inspection as a result of cab and rust issues, in addition to mechanical problems. The 2000 Case wheel loader is also out of service, and the borough is looking at some extensive repair bills to bring it back into service.According to Councilman Brian Connely, the borough was forced to lease equipment to remove snow this year due to the malfunctioning borough equipment."If we want to provide the service, we need to be prepared to pay for it," he said.The borough is looking to purchase a similar truck, a Ford F550, that was recently approved for purchase by the water authority, a "sister" truck, so the trucks can be used interchangeably if needed and the borough mechanics can take a streamlined approach to maintaining the vehicles.Councilman Tom Cara questioned the additional spending. "As a community, all of these budgets are in our hands. I understand the water authority has their own budget, but between the water and sewer authority, they're buying equipment for half a million dollars," he said.Connely said the borough cannot continue to "put a Band-Aid" on the equipment anymore. "We've done very well with our equipment," he said, citing the "Camel," a piece of equipment still being used by the sewer authority that was purchased in 1983. It will finally be replaced to the tune of $350,000.Connely said these few trucks are a "small piece of the puzzle" of new equipment the borough needs to start replacing. "Where do we go when we have nothing," he asked.Even though the actual vehicle has not been decided on, in order to go through with test driving and getting sample vehicles, the borough must commit to purchase a vehicle.Council's unanimous approval of the purchase, including a 10-year financing option which will cost approximately $29,000 annually, will allow the borough to proceed with bringing in demo models for the borough workers to try out.Connely said the borough may be able to bundle the financing of their vehicles with the purchases by the water and sewer authorities and may be able to get a better rate and ultimately save more money on the deal. Evans said there may also be some trade-in value on the wheel loader. However, since the initial evaluation was done in 2014, the vehicle has had additional mechanical issues.