Kankakee City Council Agrees to Spending $3.5 Million-Plus for 10 New City Vehicles

The City of Kankakee received final approval from the City Council on September 18 to spend more than $3.5 million on new vehicles for the police and fire departments, as well as the public works department.

Kankakee will use a complex combination of grants, loans, cash, and tax revenue to finance the total package of 10 new vehicles.

They include a 100-foot Arial Tower truck and a pumper truck for the fire department. Those two items carry the largest price tag at $2,897,065.  Mayor Chris Curtis says funding for the two trucks will be from a grant from the Federal Emergency Management Agency in the amount of $727,000, as well as $500,000 of American Recovery Plan Act funds given to Kankakee as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To assist in covering the cost the city also will receive a low interest loan from the state in the amount of $350,000 and will dedicate $250,000 annually from cannabis tax revenue from the soon to be opened dispensary for a period of five years. Making up the remainder will be $94,790 in taxpayer revenue.

The city also will be purchasing seven new squad cars for the police department at a cost of $450,000.  Mayor Chris Curtis noted the city has replaced a total of 19 squad cars in the past three years.

Finally, the city council also approved the purchase of a wheel loader for the Kankakee Public Works Department at a cost of $175,388. “This will replace a loader that was damaged in an accident,” Mayor Chris Curtis said.  The city has received an insurance payment of $95,000 for the damaged loader, and Curtis says the rest of the cost will be covered by transferring money, which was to be used for repaving in city parking lots at various facilities this year, to the balance remaining on the new purchase.