SCARBOROUGH — Voters can expect to see a question on the Nov. 3 election ballot regarding a bond of up to $1.2 million in order to fund a new ladder truck for the Scarborough Fire Department.
The Town Council approved placing of the question on the ballot and authorization of the issuance of the bond amount on Sept. 2.
Town Manager Thomas Hall said that he expects the Scarborough Fire Department and its affiliate groups to do educate the public on need for a new ladder truck.
“I believe this is replacing a front-line piece of apparatus that is 30 years old or will be 30 years old by the time this new one comes in service,” he said. “It certainly seems as though we have gotten our money out of the current piece of equipment.”
The town estimated that the total cost, including the interest expense, is just over $1.5 million, Hall said.
Councilor John Cloutier said that the Finance Committee had a “lengthy discussion” on the topic when reworking the budget for FY2021. The new ladder truck is the only major capital item that made it to the budget.
“We slashed almost the entire budget with the exception of this truck,” he said. “It’s so old right now. If we wait another year — it takes a year to a year and a half to go through the process of ordering and actually getting a truck delivered — we might be without a second truck.”
Councilor Peter Hayes who is also on the Finance Committee, said he agreed with Cloutier.
The ladder truck was also in the capital budget that went in front of voters earlier this year, Council Chair Paul Johnson said. So voters have seen this item in the capital budget already, he said.
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