Sunset Hills is set to purchase a new mini excavator after the Board of Aldermen approved the $77,268 purchase May 10.
The board was given two options for the Volvo excavator in April — either purchase immediately for $77,268 and restructure the budget, or rent for eight months and buy, for a total of $80,788. The purchase was originally planned for next year, hence the need for a budget change.
“This has been on the five-year-plan,” City Engineer Bryson Baker said in April. “The reason we are moving this up a year and causing this problem is due to the condition of the Grandview streets that we weren’t aware of until after the freeze-thaw cycle.”
The city would use the vehicle for slab replacement and a number of other projects within the city. It currently uses larger vehicles which can cause unneeded damage to surrounding areas for projects where a mini excavator would be better.