Lavonia Getting New Fire Truck

By Buddy Hardigree, WLHR Radio, Lavonia

A new fire truck is in the future for the city of Lavonia.

In a work session last month, the Lavonia Fire Department had asked for a new truck pointing out that a new truck was needed to improve the city’s ISO rating.

The ISO rating is a very important rating because the lower the ISO rating, the lower fire insurance rates will go.

Now, Lavonia City Manager Charles Cawthon has presented a proposal for the council to enter a lease purchase agreement to get a new fire truck.

According to Cawthon, the city of Lavonia would use SPLOST funds, regular budget money that the city has allocated for a fire truck, and the outside funds that it gets from Franklin County for outside fire protection to pay for it.

Cawthon said that means it would not be an impact on the budget, but it would be like leasing, then at the end of the lease it would be the city’s truck.

He went on to explain the terms of the purchase, which is for 10 years at 2.73 percent.

This past week, the Lavonia City Council then approved the lease/purchase which will eventually cause the ISO rating to drop from 4 possibly to as low as 2, which would substantially reduce fire insurance rates.