Hello, Collar City! This is Issue 8, dated Nov. 2, 2018.

It was a recommendation, not a requirement. They like to see vehicles purchased out of the tax levy. And, to some degree, we probably would as well. We're just not in a position where we can do that yet. We're getting closer to that day. On the other hand, there have not been vehicle purchases for many of our departments in a number of years. So, this is not merely replacing a couple of vehicles. We have need for, you know, a fleet of vehicles at this point in time, which would be a big expense.



But it's important to note that when you bond for a vehicle, you can only bond over the term that is considered the useful life of the vehicle. It's called a PPU—perceived period of usefulness. [...] So, it's not as though you're borrowing long-term debt for a short-term asset. You're borrowing for a term that mirrors that the expected useful life of the product.



When you come to these meetings you'll here us talk about PPUs for, you know, a pool or a dam or a vehicle or a piece of software—those are given to us by bonding counsel [...] So that way you don't get in over your head with debt on assets that have aged out years ago and are no longer useful.



It's kind of like the way you buy a car. You figure your car will last you five or six years, you take a five or six year loan. In this instance, we're borrowing for three years because we estimate the car will last us three years. So we're paying for the car as we use it.