GRANITE QUARRY — While the discussion may still be in the preliminary stages, Granite Quarry is looking into replacing one of its 30-year-old fire engines with a maximum $1.2 million purchase. The board of aldermen looked into the issue during its budget workshop meeting on Wednesday.

One of the issues with attempting to purchase a new fire engine is the wait time. Currently, after an order is placed and received, a fire department can expect to wait 48 months before receiving the new apparatus, said Jason Hord, the town’s fire chief and acting town manager.

“By the time these fire trucks come in, the 30-year-old trucks will almost be 35 years old and the newer truck will be 15 years old. We talked about NFPA (National Fire Protection Association), an apparatus older than 15 years should not be your front-running apparatus,” said Hord.

Hord also noted that the NFPA guidelines are that trucks older than 25 years old should be retired entirely, but the town decided to refurbish the older trucks in order to keep them running longer.

The discussion by the board of aldermen did not center around whether or not the town needed a new truck, but rather how to make such a large payment possible. Hord did note during the discussion that fully paying for the truck up front could potentially save the town $250,000.

“As we dig deeper into the budget process and start working with some numbers, I would love if the staff could bring us back options, a list of different scenarios,” said Mayor Brittany Barnhardt. “Are the savings worth paying for it up front or are we getting a larger return on our investment by having our capital funds invested?”

As the discussion on Wednesday was preliminary, the numbers discussed were not final or official. Hord did present the board with the fact that raising the property tax rate by one cent would increase the town’s income by $41,175.

“The thing I’m focused on is the proposed tax increase. We, as a board, need to make sure that whatever that number is, it is as low as possible,” said Alderman Rich Luhrs.

Mayor Pro Tem Doug Shelton agreed with that sentiment, noting that the town increased the tax rate by three cents during the 2022-2023 fiscal year. Although the town decreased the rate by 0.75 cents during the next fiscal year, most resident’s tax bills still increased due to the county’s revaluation.

“For the record, we took a whopping tax increase last year. To come out here and have another whopping tax increase, it’s unattractive to me,” said Shelton.

The board still has time until the town has to finalize next year’s budget, as budgets are typically finalized in June. Hord noted that the town was currently a “month ahead of schedule,” so there was still plenty of room for discussion.