Kent to spend $2.2 million to replace 42 aging city vehicles

When you own 446 vehicles as the city of Kent does, many of the police SUVs and Public Works vans and trucks wear out each year.

That’s why the city’s 2022 adjusted budget includes using $2.25 million from Kent’s share of the American Rescue Plan Act (COVID-19) federal relief funds, to buy 42 new vehicles. The city will get a total of $28.2 million in relief funds, with $14 million received in June and another $14 million coming next June.

Mayor Dana Ralph put the fleet vehicle replacement item in her proposed budget and the City Council agreed it’s money well spent. The council is scheduled to adopt the budget Nov. 16.

“The city allocates funds each year to replace vehicles within the fleet,” said Dave Brock, city Public Works deputy director, in an email. “The number of vehicles that can be replaced is dependent upon the available funding, and cost of the new vehicle. If council approves the budget adjustment for replacing the 42 vehicles, those 42 vehicles will be replaced in the next 12 months.”

The replacements include three SUV police pursuit hybrid vehicles at an estimated cost of $73,000 each and seven 1-ton Public Works pickups at a cost of $65,000 each. The rest of the vehicles range in cost from $43,000 for a small hybrid SUV to $63,000 for a van. The average cost is $52,380 per vehicle, with about 28 of those pickups.

Brock said city vehicles are evaluated for replacement using multiple data points, including age and mileage (or engine hours). Other data points that are taken into consideration are maintenance/repair costs, overall condition, reliability and area of service.

“As general guidance, police pursuit vehicles have an expected life of 10 years, and vans/pickups have an expected life of 12-15 years,” Brock said.

The city uses Kenmore-based James G. Murphy Co. to auction the vehicles it replaces to the highest bidder, Brock said.

“It depends on a number of factors including vehicle type, condition, used vehicle market and bidder interest,” Brock said about how much the city gets per vehicle.

Proceeds from the auctioned vehicles go back into the city’s fleet fund to help buy replacement vehicles.

Electric vehicles

City Councilmembers Marli Larimer and Brenda Fincher each asked during budget workshops for information about buying more hybrid or electric vehicles as well as how many of those type of vehicles the city currently uses.

Brock said at the council’s Public Works Committee meeting Nov. 1 that the city owns 51 hybrids and will buy 18 more hybrids in 2022 with the federal relief funds. Most of the hybrids are smaller one-half ton pickups while the electric vehicles are SUVs or sedans.

The state Legislature passed a measure this year that will require all 2030 or later passenger and light-duty vehicles sold in the state be electric vehicles.

During a press event at an international climate change conference Nov. 7 in Glasgow, Scotland, Gov. Jay Inslee announced an executive order for Washington state’s public fleets to transition to a 100% zero-emission (electric vehicles) light duty fleet by 2035. He also included that medium and heavy duty state fleets be all electric by 2040.

Brock said the vehicle manufacturing industry hasn’t yet produced for sale hybrid or electric larger trucks but he expects that to happen in the future.

The Legislature in previous years adopted measures to require cities and counties to transition their fleets to electric vehicles. Brock said the state Department of Commerce adopted rules so that cities would not be required to purchase electric vehicles if it was not practical to buy them or charging issues or other multiple factors were a challenge.

Fincher looks forward to when more electric trucks become available.

“There should be more to choose from by the end of 2024 or 2025,” Fincher said. “I’m glad with the numbers we have and that we are purchasing electric vehicles.”

As of 2020, Washington had a total of 65,611 electric vehicles on the road compared to 1,203 in 2011, according to a report by Environment America Research & Policy Center released Nov. 10 by the Environment Washington Research & Policy Center.

“Washington is setting the pace in the race toward 100% clean and renewable energy, especially in transportation,” said Mandy Apa, conservation associate with Environment Washington Research & Policy Center, in a news release. “Washingtonians can look forward to a cleaner, healthier future, thanks to our state’s leadership in electric vehicle adoption, zero-emission vehicle mandates and electric vehicle rebates.”

A city of Kent Public Works pickup in for service at the city maintenance shop. The city plans to buy about 28 pickups in 2022 to replace aging trucks. COURTESY PHOTO, City of Kent