Lehighton continues to mull its options for the financing of a new pumper truck for its fire department.

Borough council on Monday held a lengthy discussion on the topic of the fire department pumper truck replacement.

Borough Manager Dane DeWire noted that the borough applied for an LSA grant in 2024, and at the time the cost was $1.04 million

DeWire said the truck is now priced at $1.08 million, or $40,000 more than it had been.

He said there is a loan program for which the borough could apply that does not open until the spring.

“At this point, we’re clearly cutting it close,” DeWire said.

He said Community Leasing Partners has given the borough three options, each with different financing terms.

Of the three, DeWire said his recommendation included an escrow account to hold the down payment until delivery of the vehicle.

Although the borough wouldn’t receive the discount for paying in full on day one, he said it would stand to gain tens of thousands of dollars in interest while it waits.

DeWire said the escrow interest wouldn’t bring more money than the borough would be saving by paying upfront, but the borough wouldn’t need to pay for a payment bond, and can utilize the state’s 2% financing program for $340,000 of the cost.

Borough fire Chief Patrick Mriss mentioned the new Environmental Protection Agency emissions requirements are coming up.

Mriss said the sooner the borough can get moving on this, they can hopefully avoid the new EPA emissions requirements for the diesel engines if they get the vehicle started before Jan. 27, 2027.

“The sooner we get on it, we can at least have it chassied and fall under the current emissions regulations,” Mriss said.

Councilman Joe Flickinger recommended that borough council table the matter until next month so that each member can review the data.

Last month, borough council tabled discussion on the mater.

Borough council at a special meeting in December adopted the 2026 budget with a 1.25-mill increase.

That will raise the millage rate from 11 mills to 12.25 mills, with 1 mill for the financing of a new pumper truck for the fire department, while the other quarter of a mill is for the general fund.

The borough applied for a grant for the truck, but did not receive one.

DeWire reviewed the budget and noted he shaved quite a bit of expenses off from the original 2026 budget.

Councilman Steve Hawk said that the trend over the years has been to keep tax increases as small as possible.

DeWire said at that time that if a grant did not come through for a new firetruck, then the borough would have to look at a loan for $1.1 million or $1.2 million, which could result in a 1-mill increase.

Even if the borough received a $1 million loan for the LSA statewide program, council discussed a 1-mill tax increase to pay for the difference, as the truck was quoted at $1.04 million, and the grant application capped at $1 million even.

Another option under consideration was to transfer $1.6 million from the borough’s Light & Power Department to the general fund.