By Tom Knapp
The Intelligencer Journal/New Era
EAST LAMPETER, Pa. — Lafayette Fire Company saved more than $400,000 by buying a rescue engine a year ahead of schedule.
Company officials appeared before East Lampeter Township supervisors on Oct. 19 asking for financial support of the purchase.
Fire Chief Ron Nolt told supervisors the volunteer company had planned to replace its 1991 rescue engine next year at an estimated cost of $700,000 to $750,000.
However, he said, officials became aware of a five-year-old rescue engine for sale by a company in Maryland “for a relatively unheard-of bargain.”
The Maryland company was asking $300,000, Nolt said, and dropped the price to $275,000 during negotiations.
“We saved more than $400,000 by going this route,” Nolt said.
Some repairs and enhancements were required, Nolt said, but nothing above what was expected.
Nolt joined Melanie McHenry, chair of the emergency services committee, in asking supervisors for a one-third share of the purchase cost plus refurbishments, which comes out to just under $108,000.
“It sounds like a great deal,” Supervisor John Shertzer told Nolt.
Supervisors unanimously approved the expenditure, which will come out of the township’s capital reserve fund in its 2011 budget.
Nolt said the fire company is not scheduled to replace another major piece of apparatus until 2023.
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