The Guilford County Board of Commissioners just authorized nearly $2.75 million to cover installment loan payments to pay for a whole lot of new cars, trucks and other vehicles.
The big beneficiary is the Guilford County Sheriff’s office which got the vast majority of the new vehicles.
Nearly all of the autos and items in the contract are already in the county’s possession. The county voted earlier to buy them on credit and then make good on that loan at a later date, which they did on Thursday, June 5.
The big auto purchase is part of the county’s ongoing vehicle replacement and expansion program for the current fiscal year, fiscal 2024-2025, which ends on June 30.
Years ago, the county paid cash for vehicles; however, for the last few years – since the county has been short on cash and short on savings – county leaders have relied on loans for vehicle purchases.
This time around the loan was from Banc of America, a subsidiary of Bank of America.
The contract approved June 5 provided payment for Guilford County’s financing of $2,746,000 worth of vehicles at an interest rate of 3.4 percent over a 48-month term.
Guilford County purchased fifty-seven vehicles in all, with fifty of those designated for the Sheriff’s Office.
The remaining vehicles include two ambulances for Emergency Services and trucks, vans and sedans for departments such as Fleet Operations, Inspections, social services and public health.
On January 18, 2024, the Board of Commissioners adopted the Vehicle Project Ordinances, which gave the county the formal authority to order the approved vehicles. According to the agenda information, all of those vehicles have been received except for the ambulance boxes that are intended for installation on new chassis. Those components remain on order.
To secure the best financing terms, the county issued a Request for Proposal in April 2025, which was sent out to more than 60 financial institutions. Nine qualified responses were received, offering interest rates ranging from 3.4 percent to 5.4 percent. County staff evaluated the proposals based on interest rates, the credit quality of the lenders and the terms of early repayment. Banc of America was ultimately chosen as the financing partner offering the best overall loan package.
Law Enforcement – where deputies often have to drive very fast, stop fast and even ram other vehicles to get them off the road – was the largest beneficiary, with $2,152,000 of the money going toward replacement vehicles and related upfitting for that purpose, including $126,000 specifically earmarked for patrol vehicles in Jamestown, which is offset by user charges.
Emergency Services received two new ambulances under this round of funding.
Guilford County has already allocated money from prior budgets for other Emergency Services purchases, including two more ambulances, three ambulance boxes and related equipment, totaling $1.33 million.
There have been supply chain challenges ever since the pandemic that have constrained the availability of complete ambulance units.
Among the vehicles not going to the Sheriff’s Office are five Chevrolet 2500 trucks for Animal Control, trucks as well as SUVs for new Planning and Inspections staff hired in the prior fiscal year, and some hybrid sedans for public health and social services workers.
One major addition in the package is a $429,471 mobile clinic van for Public Health. That’s being funded with Medicaid Maximization dollars.
A total of $5,486,471 has been identified in county vehicle needs, with $2.7 million coming from this financing contract.
The remainder of the funding is being sourced from $1.8 million in prior-year appropriations for vehicles, $460,000 in savings from unfilled county positions, $126,000 in user charges tied to Jamestown Patrol services, and the Medicaid funds just mentioned.
Many of the replaced vehicles are aging, have exceeded recommended mileage thresholds, or are considered no longer cost-effective to maintain.
