Nine police and fire vehicles, nearly $9,800 a month in proposed rent

Seven police SUVs and two fire pickups would carry nearly $9,800 in combined monthly rent, plus $60,845 in down payments, under a vehicle-leasing proposal in Starkville’s October 20 agenda packet.⁠[1]

The Finance Department asked the Mississippi city’s Mayor and Board of Aldermen to authorize leases through Enterprise Fleet Management for seven 2027 Dodge Durango Pursuit vehicles and two 2027 RAM 1500 4x4 pickups. The packet records the request, not its outcome: it does not establish whether the board approved the proposal or whether leases were signed.⁠[1]

Both attached quotes run for 60 months. Each police vehicle is quoted at $1,068.92 a month, while the fire quote lists $1,156.99 per pickup. At those rates, down payments plus five years of rent would total about $648,630 for all nine vehicles—before termination charges and other costs.⁠[1]

There is a small discrepancy in the paperwork: the city’s summary lists the fire rental at $1,156.44 per vehicle, 55 cents less than the attached quote. The calculation above uses the higher quoted rate; the difference across two pickups over five years is $66.⁠[1]

The quotes also list a $400 lease-termination service charge per vehicle. The fire quote adds $210 per pickup in separately billed administration and estimated transport fees. Those charges are outside the down-payment-and-rent calculation.⁠[1]

Nor are the quoted rentals necessarily the final rates. Both quotes say the monthly lease charge will adjust to the interest rate at delivery, subject to a floor. They also require the city to maintain insurance until the vehicles are sold. The roughly $649,000 figure is therefore a payment benchmark, not a complete measure of the city’s eventual cost.⁠[1]