Ironton could see three new police cruisers hit the streets this year if city council members approve legislation to purchase the cars at the March 23 meeting.

Thursday, March 16, 2000

Ironton could see three new police cruisers hit the streets this year if city council members approve legislation to purchase the cars at the March 23 meeting.

Finance Committee members agreed to recommend the purchase to fellow council members at the next meeting, council president Jim Tordiff said.

"The mayor came to us and said the fleet was depleted so bad that the money spent on maintenance was killing us," Tordiff said. "The cruisers are on the road 24 hours a day. They don’t last forever. We need to get them, but it couldn’t come at a worst time. We need to meet the needs of the citizens."

Ironton will face severe revenue losses in the upcoming year because of recent and upcoming plant closures. But there is $75,000 in the year 2000 budget earmarked for vehicle purchases, Tordiff said.

City council has not purchased new police cruisers since 1991, Tordiff said.

The deadline to place an order is April 1.

To order new cruisers before the deadline hits, council members will need to suspend the rules at next week’s meeting and approve the purchase that evening, Tordiff said.

"There’s no guarantee four people will vote for this," he said.

If more information concerning the cruisers becomes available, finance committee members will meet again March 23 before the council meeting to discuss revisions to their recommendation.

Finance committee members wanted to know the exact purchase price for each vehicle and who would be driving the cars once they were purchased, council member Joe Black said.

"I’m all in favor of sponsoring the purchase, but we need some definitive figures," Black said.

In other business Thursday, finance committee members discussed the current budget.

Finance committee members will keep a close watch on this year’s budget and make revisions as needed to prepare for next year, Tordiff said.

"The budget we put together to be passed by March 31 is not a good workable document in the sense that we are practically depleting our reserves to put that budget together," Tordiff said. "That puts us in a precarious situation for 2001. I’ve asked Cindy (Anderson, finance director), with that in mind, to prepare some kind of a 2001 budget so we can see how much of a carry-over we need next year to be OK."