Well, that was quick and painless. With all discussion already held in previous meetings, the Farmville Town Council took a vote and gave staff permission to move forward with the short-term loan they had requested, in order to purchase some vehicles.

Back in April, council members agreed to fund some purchases in the new Farmville budget through a loan. That includes $231,000 for five police cars; $75,000 for graphics and outfitting for those cars; $60,000 for a new emergency medical services (EMS) vehicle; $25,000 to outfit the EMS vehicle; $180,000 for a tractor/mower to mow the right-of-way on the street; $80,000 for a pickup with a lift gate; $225,000 for a dump truck and $80,000 for a ¾ ton utility truck. All together that adds up to $956,000. The town itself doesn’t have the money to buy all of those but the staff can do it through a short-term loan. 

And these things are needed. Previously, Davis said the town had gone more than a decade before replacing police cars. And as a result, they got very little when they sold the old ones at auction. It makes more sense, Davis said, to replace the vehicles every five years. That way, the town can get more out of the old ones at auction. 

What does the Farmville loan look like? 

This is a five-year loan with a 4.25% rate. Once the loan is fully repaid, any liens on the equipment, such as the police vehicles and other purchases, will be released. One key part of this is that while the loan is part of the current budget and had to be approved as such, no part of the $956,000 will be paid during this current budget cycle.

Payments typically begin in the fiscal year following a loan’s approval and closing.

So in other words, it’ll be this time next year that you hear council members discussing making the first payment in this latest loan.
But this is why, when council members brought up postponing purchases of the police cars or trucks during budget talks this year, town staff said that wouldn’t reduce the overall budget. We don’t start paying for all of these vehicles until next year. The goal is to avoid ending up like some other towns and cities in Virginia, which kept putting off infrastructure and equipment purchases until it got so big they had to make dramatic decisions to cover the cost.