Chautauqua County has decided to continue renting certain vehicles and instead of owning them.

During the county Legislature’s Public Facilities Committee meeting, lawmakers unanimously approved two resolutions for light duty trucks.

Brad Bentley, county Department of Public Facilities director, said the county is continuing to work with Enterprise on their leasing program. “We actually just ordered seven new vehicles as replacements for our vehicles that we started with a lease in 2019,” he said.

On Monday, the committee agreed to lease a Ford 250 4X4 with a plow for the Dunkirk airport.

According to Bentley, this is a four-year lease. “At any time during the four years, if our capital appreciation of the vehicle exceeds our book value we can turn that lease in,” he said.

He noted that the county saves on vehicle maintenance.

“It’s a program I was curious to see how it would turn out,” Bentley said. “I can’t deny the results.”

The committee also approved a resolution leasing five light vehicles for the highway division that are in need of replacement. “We believe this lease program that we talked about would make an excellent option to replace these vehicles. They’re also trucks — three F250s and two F150s,” he said.

According to Bentley, the 10 month lease cost is for the airport truck is $6,554 and the 10 month lease cost for the five highway trucks is $29,583. “Each of these leases are for 48 months but have the option of turning them in early if we are in a positive equity position such as is the case with seven of the trucks we leased in 2019,” he explained in an email after the meeting.

The resolutions now heads to the Audit and Control Committee and will eventually need the full legislature’s final approval.