Is there a new truck in the works for Danbury Fire Department?  

5/21/04

UPDATE: The Danbury Fire Fighters Assoc. was notified on Friday May 21, 2004 by the Iowa State Fire Marshall, Fire Service Training Bureau Division that they had been selected to receive a 0% interest loan in the amount of $80,000 to be paid off over 10 years.  This is exciting news for the Fire Assoc. as it will make the acquisition of a new fire truck much easier.  This loan will replace the USDA loan which carried a 4.25% interest rate.  The new loan will allow the Fire Assoc. to save an around $35,000 in interest.

Additionally, We still have $65,000 in grant money to be used on the new truck which was awarded to the association by the USDA and Danbury Farm Supply.

#####

3/04/04

There may be a new fire truck in the works for the Danbury Fire Department; that is if all the pieces of the puzzle fall into place in the next couple of weeks.

As you may or may not know, the Danbury Fire Fighter’s Association was awarded a grant this past September for $50,000 along with the approval for a $100,000 loan at 4.25% interest for 15 years. The grant and the loan were based on a fire truck costing $160,000 in which the additional $10,000 would come from the department upfront. 

In addition to this, the department received $15,000 from Danbury Farm Supply on behalf of the ConAgra Foundation to be used towards the truck.  This brings us to a total of $65,000 in grant monies along with $100,000 loan. 

The department has received several quotes on a new truck and it is looking like a basic truck that will fit our department is going to cost around $165,000.00. Again this is a basic truck and has very few bells & whistles.  As a comparison, the Primghar Fire Department has just signed a contract for their new truck which came in at $216,540.  The Denison Fire Department just took delivery of their new pumper, and its price tag was just short of $300,000.  We as a department don’t think this truck is too much, but rather what we need.

It should also be pointed out that if we were able to find a truck for less than $160,000 that the full grant amount would not be received. For example, if we were able to find a truck for $140,000, the department would only receive $30,000 in grant money instead of $50,000.

Repayment of the Loan

As stated earlier, the loan is for 15 years at 4.25%.  In addition the department must set up a depreciation fund for the truck. This means the department would have to come up with $9,152 a year for the payments and an additional $1,765 for the depreciation fund which is a reserve account retained by the department for equipment upkeeps. 

The above numbers are based on a $100,000 loan which the department probably won’t need.  As noted above, the truck is going to cost around $165,000. We have $65,000 in grant money, and we must use $10,000 of reserve funds up front.  This would only require us to take out a $90,000 loan which would amount to 8236.00 a year in payments. 

Years ago the City of Danbury started an equipment fund for the fire department.  They have been depositing $6240 into the account annually.  There is currently around $12,000 in the account in part due to the majority of the money being used for the fire station.  In addition, the department has tapped into those reserves to make our 10% payment on the FEMA equipment that the department purchased this year.  It is being proposed that approximately $5,000/year of those funds be used for the annual payment.  The additional funds would then have to come from increases in township funding.  The department has been busy working with the trustees in attempting to get this increased funding. We are asking for your support by letting your township trustees know that we need this additional funding.

We are currently waiting for the six townships to finalize their budgets and see if it is possible to get the additional funding that the department has requested.  Once we know what they are able to do we will know if we can move forward or not?  If we are not able to move forward we will be forced to return the $65,000 in free grant money, something no one wants to do.

On a final note, we need to mention that we are in the process of applying for a $80,000 interest free loan.  While there is no guarantee of loan approval, we are working very hard on getting the required information together to submit this loan application.  If we are approved for this loan, we would immediately pay off the 4.25% interest loan with this one.  This would be a savings to the department of somewhere around $30,000.00 in interest.  If you have any questions please you may contact a department member for additional information or visit our website at danburyfire.com.