Marshall County may soon be able to see the benefit of new vehicles and equipment while avoiding the burdensome cost associated with such purchases.
During Monday morning’s Marshall County Commissioners meeting, a representative of Republic First National Bank presented the idea of financing Highway Department road equipment. The bank works almost exclusively with municipal bodies looking to make equipment purchases and upgrades.
Bank President Angie Deming says the financing lease options they offer can help maintain line items in Marshall County’s fiscal year budget.
“A lease purchase plan has what’s called a non-appropriation clause in it,” says Deming. “So essentially what happens is that the County can decide not to appropriate the funding on a year-to-year basis. So what that means is that instead of a five-year lease purchase plan, it’s a five, one-year lease purchase plan. That’s the way the county looks at it.”
Financing could be designed for payments over several years with payments scheduled monthly, quarterly, or annually.
The Marshall County Commissioners said they have never used financing to purchase equipment in the past. Whether such a service will be used in the future depends on the equipment being proposed.
Financing equipment purchases for Highway Department, or other uses, would first need a proposal. Deming says the type of equipment could influence financing options as well.
“Depending on how long the county wants to keep the equipment, we go ahead and we specialize on getting the payment to fit within your budget,” says Deming. “So if you think you’re going to have a piece of equipment for 15 years, then we can stretch that out to 10.”
The matter may be considered in the future.
No further action was taken.
