Fire truck for South Dundas comes in under budget

South Dundas Fire & Emergency Services Chief Chris McDonough. (Newswatch Group/Bill Kingston, File)

SOUTH DUNDAS – The municipality has closed the books on the second piece for a new fire truck and the entire package has come in under budget.

Council approved the $188,987 purchase Tuesday night for a pumper unit from a company in Carleton Place.

South Dundas had approached four firms that manufacture firefighting equipment about the tender but only two responded. The other bid from an Arnprior company was almost $235,000.

After a tax rebate and trade in on the old fire truck, the final cost was just over $180,000.

The pumper will go on the $224,000 chassis bought in April. The chassis was found in Quebec and was part of a cancelled order for the Halifax fire department.

The review of the pumper tender Tuesday night was tame in comparison to the sole-sourcing tender earlier this year for the fire truck chassis.

Then, tempers flared between Coun. Bill Ewing and Fire Chief Chris McDonough and Mayor Evonne Delegarde had to break up the curt exchange.

On Tuesday night, McDonough circled back on his earlier chassis purchase, stating that the township had actually saved $100,000 based on the U.S. dollar exchange.

“I did get today’s (Tuesday) market dollar value and a 2015 chassis we would have been looking at over $500,000…so we probably saved over $100,000,” McDonough told council.

The township had budgeted $425,000 for the entire truck replacement.

The department is replacing its 1991 pumper as part of its regular fleet replacement.

The truck should be on the road in October.

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