Two fire trucks, six payments and a proposed $510,000 interest bill

Financing two fire trucks would bring Sandy Springs, Georgia, a payment tab of about $3.425 million under a proposal headed to City Council on Nov. 17. The draft schedule lists $509,926.24 in interest on top of the $2.915 million financed.⁠[1]

The purchase itself is not the new decision. City Attorney Dan Lee’s memo says council approved an equipment proposal from Ten-8 Fire & Safety on Aug. 18 for up to $2.915 million. The proposed financing covers a Pierce mid-mount platform apparatus and a Pierce pumper.⁠[1]

The equipment exhibit starts with a combined purchase price of $3,800,366, then subtracts $544,656 in vendor discounts and $340,710 in trade-in value to reach the amount financed.⁠[1]

Under the proposed arrangement, the city’s Public Facilities Authority would acquire the trucks and lease them to the city, with the authority expecting to obtain financing from PNC Bank. The payment schedule calls for six annual installments of $570,821.04, each October from 2027 through 2032. The authority would transfer its interest in the equipment to the city after all amounts due are paid, subject to nominal administrative or title-transfer costs.⁠[1]

Future payments would depend on annual appropriations, and the draft says the agreement would not pledge the city’s taxing power. But stopping the funding would mean giving up the trucks: a lawful non-appropriation would end future rental payments while requiring the city to surrender the equipment, with accrued amounts still payable.⁠[1]

The draft also restricts the city from acquiring functionally comparable replacement apparatus during the remaining lease term without satisfying the agreements’ requirements, to the extent legally enforceable.⁠[1]

These are proposed terms, not an executed financing deal. The draft leaves the specific October payment days and an estimated-financing-costs field blank, so the listed interest should not be read as a confirmed all-in financing cost.⁠[1]