Truck lease drives up taxes

[five_alarm]

POWELL RIVER, BC - Powell River Regional District is proposing to lease a new pumper truck for the Northside Volunteer Fire Department over a period of 20 years at a cost of $201,204, but such a move would come with a tax increase. Covering the annual lease payments will cost homeowners in the area $17.50 per $100,000 of net taxable value of their property per year.
Source: zwire.com (click for full story) (http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?BRD=1998&dept_id=499599&newsid=17033714&PAG=461&rfi=9)

[ssifire]

I'm not sold on the leasing. (pardon the pun) Even when I ran my trucking company, the leases just didn't add up at the end.

Does any FD out there currently lease their trucks, and if so is it working for you? How much more is it costing you in the long run?

To me, it seems like a way of keeping up with the Jones and paying for it in the long run.

[DCharv]

I'm not sold on the leasing. (pardon the pun) Even when I ran my trucking company, the leases just didn't add up at the end.

Does any FD out there currently lease their trucks, and if so is it working for you? How much more is it costing you in the long run?

To me, it seems like a way of keeping up with the Jones and paying for it in the long run.

A 20 year lease seems like an awful long time to be paying for a truck. The last truck we bought we took out a loan for 7 years and hope to have it paid off in 5.