At the regular city council meeting on Jan. 13, council agreed to give early budget approval for the purchase of a ladder truck for Grand Forks Fire Rescue. The cost of the truck is $1.3 million and will financed through a five year short term borrowing and funded by a five year parcel tax.At council, both Dale Heriot, Grand Forks fire chief, and Roxanne Shepherd, corporate financial officer, gave a presentation on the project.Heinrich told council that due to several factors, such as the plunging Canadian dollar, the cost of shot term borrowing would be much cheaper than borrowing over the long term.The cost of interest for long term borrowing at 4.5 per cent over 20 years would be $1,170,000 as opposed to the cost of short term borrowing at 3 per cent over five years which would cost $195,000.She also explained that a five year parcel (2015-19) would work out to $279,015 each year. With 3,052 folios in the 2013 revised roll, a flat parcel tax would be $91.42.“There are advantages to the flat tax,” she said. “Everybody pays evenly for the service rather than based on assessment. Also, the flat tax could help retain some of the home owner grant lost to the province.”Heriot explained that by purchasing the new ladder truck, the fire department will keep insurance costs down in the city.“Council recognized that even though their will be some cost to the taxpayer, its nowhere close to what it would cost in additional insurance cost if we don’t move in this direction,” said Mayor Brian Taylor. “I think it really shows a long term commitment from the community to a first rate excellent fire service. I think that’s really important to the community.”Taylor said the council and city staff will still need to finalize the details regarding the borrowing and financing of the ladder truck.“What we did tonight was give the green light to go ahead with buying the American money for the purchase (of the truck) without having to deal with the dropping Canadian dollar,” he said.Heriot told the Gazette that the new ladder truck is much needed by the fire department.“We’re very happy with how it turned out,” he said. “Our current ladder truck is a 1993 Superior Fire Truck. By fire underwriter’s standards, it has expired as far as useful life in being a frontline pumper to protect the community. We were in a position where we needed to replace the ladder truck.”Heriot said the life of fire trucks is 20 years, so when purchasing a new truck, the fire department has to look at what the needs of the community will be for the next 20 year time frame.“We generally won’t buy a fire truck that fits our needs today, but one that will fit our needs in 20 years,” he said. “There are plenty of positive signs in the community right now. Anticipating for the future, that’s one of the reasons we’re making the purchase we are. We believe the community will be very positive moving forward.”Heriot said that all fire trucks are made south of the border in the United States which means a slumping Canadian dollar would increase costs. In addition, the fire truck must be custom made.“There not like when you buy a car off the car lot,” he said. “Every community is different, so every community requires something different for their fire truck.”Heriot said the truck will have a bigger pump allowing for more water flow. The ladder will be twice as long at 100 feet. In addition, there will be a platform on the truck which will be much safer for the crew.“It gives us a lot more options with regards to rescue and fire fighting and elevated water streams,” he said.Heriot added that they’ve already put the new truck out to tender and are currently reviewing bids.“We’ll talk with the CAO (Doug Allin) with regards to approaching the successful bidder,” he said. “We’ll enter into a contract situation with them. We’ll start with a pre-construction meeting on building a fire truck.” The actual construction of the truck is expected to take 12 – 15 months.