An insurance payment of $430,400 has been received by Butler County officials for vehicles damaged in the first of two fires to strike the highway shed since early September.
The county lost six vehicles in an evening fire Sept. 5 and a seventh vehicle in a fire Oct. 4. Fire officials say the fires are not considered suspicious. Final reports on the fires are still pending.
Liability insurance covers only the depreciated value of the vehicles, not replacement costs, county clerk Tonyi Deffendall said this week.
The payment received last week from Starr Insurance covers four 2012 dump trucks, one 2003 dump truck and a 2006 tractor.
The county is still waiting for an insurance assessment and payment on a 3,200-square-foot building damaged in the first fire and the loss of a 1992 fuel truck in the second fire. The dump trucks and fuel truck were Freightliners.
Commissioners have decided to lease, rather than buy, two replacement dump trucks at this time, Deffendall said.
"The commissioners don't want to do anything else until after the next budget ... to see where our money is at and what we can afford to do," Deffendall said.
The commission will work on the 2019 budget in the coming months, ahead of approval in January.
The county purchased two new dump trucks in April, she said.
TriState was approved as the low bidder at that time, with a sale price of $130,687 for a 2019 Mack Granite dump truck. The bid included monthly payments of $1,367.26, with a residual buyback after 24 months of $107,000.
TriState has said they will honor the April bid to replace two dump trucks from the fire, Deffendall said.