City commissioners can breathe a $1.3 million sigh of relief.

City mechanics on Friday determined that a faulty sensor was to blame for the breakdown of a fire truck that was attempting to extinguish a house fire at 1005 Ind. early Thursday morning.

Mechanics replaced an oil pressure sensor – which was causing the truck’s engine to shut off because it detected it lacked oil – and placed the 10-year-old truck back in service.

That finding eased worries that the city may soon have to find $1.3 million to purchase a new ladder truck. The city has one backup ladder truck, but it is 22 years old and has experienced significant mechanical problems of its own.

Sales tax proposal

Thursday’s breakdown, however, likely will remain a rallying cry for a new sales tax proposal that would provide $500,000 a year for fire truck replacement, in addition to new funding for street maintenance and sidewalks.

“I think we’re definitely in a position of playing catch-up on fire trucks,” said City Commissioner Sue Hack. “We know we’re in bad shape on some of the equipment for firefighters.”

The city’s own numbers seem to back up that assessment.

Condition ratings done by the city show that seven of the fleet’s 11 vehicles have a score that indicates replacement is warranted, although the city is in the process of trading in two of the worst vehicles for new trucks.

How the city has fallen behind the curve on such a core city service has been a difficult question for city leaders to answer.

One answer may be that the expectation of how long a fire truck should last has changed.

“I think we probably have pushed them a little too far in the past,” Hack said.

Hack, who is wrapping up her eighth year of service on the commission, said there previously had been a thought that a fire truck should last upward of 20 years. Now Bradford, who took over the department in 2005, says a more realistic number is about a dozen years.

Bradford said there are different philosophies on how to evaluate the lifespan of a fire truck, but he said he’s comfortable with the system the city uses. He said the rating system is one developed by the American Public Works Association.

Varying budget methods

But part of the issue may be one of differing budget philosophies, as well. Fire equipment has been treated differently in the city budget than police cars or ambulances, for example.

The city sets aside enough money annually to purchase about 10 to 15 police cruisers, City Manager David Corliss said. The county sets aside enough money to purchase at least one ambulance per year, County Administrator Craig Weinaug said.

But the city historically has not set aside a specific amount of money each year for fire trucks. Instead, fire engine purchases have had to compete against other capital improvements, such as street and building projects.

Former City Manager Mike Wildgen, who oversaw the city’s budget for nearly two decades before resigning under pressure in 2006, said there was a good reason for the difference. He said the cost of fire trucks – one is 20 to 30 times more expensive than a police car, for instance – made it difficult for the city to set up a meaningful replacement fund.

“We didn’t have the cash flow or the unencumbered funds to save up cash to make those type of purchases,” Wildgen said.

Instead, the city would issue bonds when it became obvious a new truck was needed. Wildgen said he believed the system worked well, but likely is under strain now that a slowing economy has put a dent in the amount of property and sales taxes the city collects.

“They’ve kind of reached the perfect storm,” Wildgen said. “Property valuations are not going up and sales taxes aren’t really going up, yet all these equipment issues remain.”

Increased pressure

Without the strong increases in assessed valuation, that puts more pressure on city commissioners to raise property tax rates if they want to finance the same number of projects. For example, the city estimates that it can issue about $5 million a year in bonds without having to increase property taxes. That amount of money doesn’t stretch far, given that some fire truck purchases are more than $1 million apiece, and some city road projects have totaled more than $5 million alone.

Plus, it has been politically unpopular to raise property taxes, especially lately. Hack points to the previous City Commission, which cut the property tax rate during a strong economy and dipped into reserve funds to finance several projects.

“Times were good and we had some of that extra money, and off we went with it,” Hack said. “We were able to reduce property taxes, but now we look back and say this is what can happen if you don’t have legally dedicated money for certain projects.”

Hack said that’s why the sales tax initiative that commissioners are expected to discuss at their Tuesday evening meeting is critical. The language on the sales tax ballot in November will specifically state what type of projects the new money must be used for.

“It will produce dedicated money,” Hack said. “That is what is important because even if we raise the mill levy for fire trucks or streets or something else, it only takes three votes for that money to go in a different direction.”