Call it a big deal in Deltona. As they begin a new year, city officials are adding more than a half-million dollars’ worth of new wheels to the municipal motor pool.

Over the objections of one of its newest members, the City Commission has approved a major purchase of new vehicles with a Jacksonville dealer. The commission Dec. 9 passed three consecutive items on its Dec. 9 agenda, all pertaining to the acquisition of trucks for different departments within the city.

“I have a problem that we’re using our money outside Volusia County,” City Commissioner Dori Howington told her colleagues.

The item then at hand was an offer to purchase a 2024 Ford Explorer from Duval Ford for $37,441. The vehicle is to be used mostly by the city’s Department of Development Services and Housing and Community Development for such official business as “site visits, events and meetings.”

Howington was recently elected in November. She won against incumbent Dana McCool with 3,568 votes, or 54.51 percent, versus McCool’s 2,978 votes, or 45.49 percent.

Each of the offers was a piggyback purchase in conjunction with the Florida Sheriffs Association’s dealings with the dealership and, according to proponents of the offers, the opportunity to save on such capital purchases because of the company’s high-volume purchases of vehicles. Thus, City Manager Dale “Doc” Dougherty said, Deltona would save on purchases.

Each of the purchase resolutions appeared on the City Commission’s consent agenda. The consent agenda is that portion of a governing body’s agenda, or order of business, that usually consists of routine or housekeeping matters, and is usually deemed noncontroversial. The items on the consent agenda may be passed on a single vote by the body in session, but members, or sometimes someone in the public, may ask that one or more items be removed, or “pulled,” for discussion and/or separate action.

In addition, each of the purchases was below the estimated costs allocated in the city’s 2024-25 budget.

Howington was not convinced, telling her fellow commissioners and the audience that she had found better deals, in some cases several thousands of dollars cheaper, while searching on her computer. Those lower prices, Daugherty said, often do not include some basic automotive needs, such as new tires. 

“We’re able to come in at a much lower price,” he added, in defense of the purchase.

The city, in anticipation of a purchase, had budgeted $38,000 for the SUV. The reason given for choosing such a vehicle is that employees going to outside meetings often must haul tables and chairs, and an Explorer meets such needs.

Howington said she favors “not sending [our money] to Jacksonville.”

“We need to support our county,” she added.

The second proposed purchase was for five trucks for park maintenance ”not to exceed $330,000,” which was less than the $400,000 city leaders had estimated, but still too much for Howington.

“Again, I prefer not to take money out of Volusia County,” she said.

Under a city policy, vehicles that have been in use for 10 years or longer, or that have been driven for 100,000 miles, are supposed to be replaced. Three of the vehicles eyed for replacement have logged 15 years of use, while another has been at work for 19 years.  

The third and final portion of the vehicles deal was a six-figure outlay for five 2024 Ford trucks, including F-150 models and one F-250. A summary of the agenda item noted an F-150 now in service “was purchased in 2015 and has 191,039 miles.” 

One of the trucks, Howington said, could be bought for less.

“A single buyer could get this same model for $1,000 less,” she noted. “We need to start doing better. … We are wasting money.”

Each of the three resolutions to purchase the new vehicles was passed on a 5-1 vote. Howington was the lone dissenter for each action. Vice Mayor Davison Heriot was absent.

Taken together, the purchases cost Deltona $578,365, just under the combined amount of $580,000 contained in the city budget.

In other action, the Deltona City Commission approved the purchase of a squad engine for the Fire Department at a price “no more than $1,700,000.”