LIVE OAK, Fla. — Leasing five fire engines and five water tankers for the Suwannee County Fire Rescue was the main topic of discussion at the county commissioners Tuesday meeting.

Public Safety Director James Sommers approached the board for approval to lease five fire engines and five tankers for 10 years.

The annual lease payment would be $378,217.

The total cost of the five fire engines is $2,195,920 and $1,349,945 for the five tankers.

At the end of the 10 years, the county could sell the vehicles back to the manufacturer for a set buy back amount or the county can purchase them for that price.

Sommers said the fire assessment fees would be used for the payments.

The county currently has 40 vehicles, most of which are more than 15 years old. Several vehicles are out of service, including two fire engines that recently failed a pump test.

“When you put $10-15,000 in fire equipment, it is still 20-year-old equipment that we are depending on for emergency response,” Sommers said.

“We feel very confident with a 10-year lease that the fleet would last us that entire time with very minimum break down.”

The warranty is five years but Sommers said the 10-year mark is when the county would start to put money into repairs.

Commissioners discussed the possibility of leasing two fire engines and two tankers every year instead of all 10 at once.

Sommers said the county’s Insurance Service Office (ISO) rating study is in two years.

“If we do not put some equipment into this, our ISO rating is going to go up,” Sommers said.

The ISO rating is used by insurance companies to create a premium cost.

He added that the outlying areas of the county could increase from a nine to a 10, which would mean mobile home owners would not be able to get home insurance.

Commissioner Clyde Fleming said the only issue he has with waiting to get the vehicles are those residents with mobile homes.

Sommers said most of the tankers currently in use are equipment loaned to the county by the Florida Division of Forestry.

He said the vehicles were military surplus and were not designed for emergency use.

If able to lease, the new equipment will replace the main fleet.

Sommers plans to get rid of the old equipment and the vehicles that are in good condition will be used as backups.

The county currently has no backup vehicles so if one vehicle requires maintenance, that means there could be an area in the county unmanned.

He said getting rid of the older equipment will save the county in maintenance and insurance costs.

“We are just trying to maintain the current service we provide,” Sommers said.

“No doubt we need them, but I am not in favor of the lease,” Chairman Ricky Gamble said.

The commissioners asked Sommers to come back with the cost for leasing individual and all 10, the cost of purchasing the vehicles and the cost of purchasing previously leased vehicles.