BROWNSTOWN — If everything goes according to plan, six of Brownstown’s eight police officers will have new patrol vehicles to drive sometime in the middle of next year.

The plan to lease six 2022 Ford Interceptors from Community Ford of Bloomington was approved by the town council during a recent meeting.

Police Chief Tom Hanner said with eight officers, the town can no longer try to replace police vehicles one year at a time because they are only good for about 70,000 miles and don’t last eight years.

The lease calls for a payment of $52,000 a year over a five-year period. Revenue from the local option income tax for public safety will be used to pay the lease. In 2020, that tax generated $53,332.04.

The lease amount does not include any potential trade-in value for the present vehicles, which could decrease the annual payment. It also does not include outfitting the vehicles with equipment, such as radios, consoles, other equipment and lights, Hanner said.

“We are not going to have any funds for radios,” he said.

“(The county’s) 911 (board) will pay for half, but I’m banking on putting in what we currently have because I am not sure we are going to come up with that.”

Hanner, who has been police chief for 10 years and with the department for 16 years, said a lot of the existing LED lights on present vehicles can be reused.

“We’re just going to have to get different brackets,” he said.

He said the town needs dash cams in police vehicles, too.

“But there’s no way we can afford that,” Hanner said.

Councilwoman Sharon Koch asked if there is any potential grant monies available for purchases of dash cams.

Councilman Tim Robinson, who serves as the council’s liaison for the police department, saidif the state would mandate dash cams, there might be grant monies.

“Eventually, maybe something,” Hanner said.

In 2016, when the town purchased the six new vehicles, it cost nearly $30,000 to upfit them then, but that was buying everything new, Hanner said.

Hanner also said there is no delivery schedule yet.

“The best-case scenario, it will be four to six months,” he said.

That means the first payment won’t be due until sometime late next year or in early 2023.

Hanner told the council the department is presently down to eight vehicles and doesn’t have a pool car to use as a backup because it was totaled during an accident and the engine blew up.

He said at times, he has had to use his personal vehicle to patrol the town in the past, but he can’t ask his officers to do the same.