TexasCHLforum.com

nightmare69 wrote:

bblhd672 wrote:

nightmare69 wrote:The equipment that was obtained here was given to them through a grant program. It didn't cost the tax payers a dime. I've only seen it actually used once, rest of the time it's used in parades and local events for show.

Didn't cost the taxpayers a dime? So this equipment magically appeared without the American citizen being forced to pay for it through taxation?

I'm not going to dig that far into it. It didn't come out the the dept, city, or county's budget.

Well you need to dig a little more. As stated above our taxes paid for the equipment at the federal level to start with. Although the Vehicles may have been obtained from the Government at no charge, once the SO or PD has them, the County or City are now responsible for maintaining them and insuring them, and given the nature of the vehicles and the intended use, the insurance is NOT cheap-- and neither is the maintenance. Ask any military tech that has to work on them. You can't go to the local parts store and pick up replacements for many of the components. I've served on the City Council for many years, and aside from employee salaries, by far the biggest budget items we have are vehicles, maintenance, and insurance. You are 100% correct that although the departments look for some reason to use them, since they have them, they still spend 95% of the time sitting in the parking lots deteriorating from non-use and age.