INDIAN RIVER COUNTY — The Indian River County Sheriff’s Office submitted an official proposal to purchase 53 vehicles at the cost of $1.5 million to replace high mileage vehicles at the Indian River County Board of Commissioners meeting on Tuesday.
In a 4-1 vote, with Commissioner Bob Solari voting in opposition, Commissioners approved $800,000 toward the replacement vehicles. The money will be sourced from sales taxes.
Solari said he would not vote to approve more than $750,000 until the Sheriff’s Office started including new vehicles in its annual budget.
According to documentation, the current fleet consists of 205 marked vehicles, 62 of which have over 100,000 miles, and 78 unmarked vehicles, 23 of which have over 100,000 miles.
“Last year we had to tow in 68 vehicles for breaking down,” said Sheriff Deryl Loar, in his presentation. Those 68 vehicles did not include any crashed vehicles.
Vehicles listed in Loar’s request ranged from 9 to 13 years of age.
Commissioner Joe Flescher said he had the opportunity to view the fleet and recognized Loar’s proposal as one to take seriously. He echoed Loar’s concern that the Sheriff’s Office could not compromise response time due to an outdated fleet.
“There are not many wants there; there are needs” Flescher said in regards to Loar’s proposal.
According to Loar, and agreed upon by the commissioners, on average, the Sheriff’s Office should be replacing 25 vehicles per year in order to maintain a working order fleet.
The Sheriff’s Office is playing catch up after no cars were able to be replaced in 2012.
Before the vote, Commissioner Peter O’Bryan said he was supportive of the Sheriff’s needs, “but we need to balance this and not play catch up all in one year.”
He added that he wished to see a five- or six- year plan when the Sheriff presents his annual budget, outlining how the fleet can be caught up and continue an ongoing rotation in the future.
Sheriff’s vehicles being retired from the fleet will be sold at auction. According to Loar, the Sheriff’s Office might be able to leverage some of the auction money to go toward new vehicles that will not be funded in the $800,000 allotment.
