The Delmont Police Department received a sizable donation that will allow them to pay off one vehicle and lease a new one.
The donor, who Chief T.J. Klobucar did not name, gave $30,000. That will allow the borough to pay the remaining cost on an existing Dodge Durango and lease a new vehicle.
Klobucar said several car manufacturers are pulling back on assembling police vehicles.
“Dodge announced they’re not making police Durangos until 2023, and Ford is pulling back production of their police Tauruses,” he said.
Council discussion centered on whether it would be better to use the $30,000 to pay off the department’s Durango — which is already figured into the borough budget — or to put it all toward the outright purchase of a new police vehicle, which Klobucar estimated around $38,000.
The department also has two older vehicles that Klobucar said he would like to sell through the Municibid website.
“We could be looking at bringing in $20,000 between the two,” he said.
Both council and the chief thanked the donor.
“It puts us in a great situation to be able to fund, basically, two new police cars,” Klobucar said.
Delmont residents have been extremely generous in recent years.
Borough police recently moved into a new space, a project that also included $50,000 in donations from community members. Borough residents also contributed to help raise $1 million for the new Delmont Public Library that opened about a year ago.
