Elon’s town council has completed another leg of a three-year-long process that will eventually add a new fire engine to the municipality’s motor fleet.
The council voted 4-to-0 in favor of a budget amendment on Tuesday that clears the way for $1,104,586 to be transferred from the town’s savings to purchase the new vehicle from a firm called Atlantic Emergency Solutions.
The council had previously given the town’s fire chief Landon Massey the all-clear to firm up a deal with Atlantic in order to acquire this vehicle – one of two new fire engines that Massey insists he needs to keep his department’s rolling stock up to date.
By approving an allocation from the town’s savings on Tuesday, the council enabled the town to take advantage of a “pre-payment discount” that will shave $125,246 off the new fire engine’s sticker price. Its members also approved a “self-reimbursement” resolution that will allow the town to obtain an installment loan at some later date in order to backfill the funds that have been siphoned from the town’s savings…