Cost savings, surplus equipment sales add up to new truck for La Crosse Fire Department

It’s sort of like the equivalent of digging around under the couch cushions to find a couple bucks for a cheeseburger.  

Except the couch cushion change, in this case, works out to be nearly $400,000, and the cheeseburger is actually a fire truck.

The city of La Crosse is looking at replacing a 33-year-old water tender truck that was bought in 1985.

It’s moved up on the priority list after the city saved money on some other projects — $97,000 left from money budgeted for decontamination rooms at fire stations and $101,000 in savings from a fire engine purchase.

A little bit here and there starts to add up. In this case, adding up to $380,000, with which the city now aims to use to buy a new fire truck.  

The city council votes on the plan next month.