MANSFIELD — Richland County Sheriff’s Office Capt. Jim Sweat said Tuesday he recognizes vehicles are “big ticket items” for the department.
“It’s a very expensive proposition, but for our uniform patrol deputies, these are their offices. They are how we go out and interact with the public. We have to able to get to where we need to safely and efficiently,” Sweat told county commissioners.
Those same commissioners later approved spending $194,522 to purchase four 2022 Ford Explorer law enforcement vehicles, using money from the county’s portion of the American Rescue Plan Act funds.
Commissioner Tony Vero said the RCSO had requested the vehicles in their 2022 budget, but the three-member panel removed it with the idea of making the purchase later in the year using ARPA money.
“The sheriff’s department is very much in need of these four vehicles,” county Administrator Andrew Keller said. “This is a need that pre-existed ARPA funds, but we are thankful to apply these (federal) funds towards this purchase to help relieve the burden on local taxpayers.”
Keller praised the work of Sweat to work on the project in terms of price and delivery timeline. The vehicles are expected to arrive by the end of 2022, Sweat said.
The vehicles, priced at around $48,000 each, will be purchased through Statewide Ford Lincoln from Van Wert, according to Sweat, who said the dealer ordered 300 of the Explorers last year.
“We were able to be a part of that 300,” Sweat said. “If we had to spec these out individually and bid them individually as our own entity, we wouldn’t even had a build date yet.”
“By taking a proactive approach and ordering from someone who already has the cars, we didn’t have to wait for them to be built. They are already reserved for us,” Sweat said.
The Explorers will arrive largely equipped, though Sweat said radar and computers will need to be added.
Sweat, joined by the meeting by Sheriff Steve Sheldon and Maj. Joe Masi, said the new vehicles will allow older vehicles to be moved into the department’s reserve fleet.
He said the department’s reserve fleet are largely 2016 and older Chevy Impalas.
Also on Tuesday, Vero announced the county’s sales tax revenues continue to decline in the face of 40-year-high inflation, including record gas prices.
He said receipts received through June, for sales through March, were 6.38 percent less than during the same period in 2021.
“We were 14.5 percent better in March 2022 as compared to March 2021. In three months, we have gone from 14.5 percent better to 6.3 percent less. That’s a 20-percent drop in just three months,” Vero said.
“If you want to see a direct reflection of your economy, our sales tax is certainly indicative of the market,” Vero said.
