The Springfield Police Department will be getting a new car to put on the city’s streets.

 

Council members approved spending $21,500 for a new patrol car to replace an aging unit. But aside from being new, it also will differ in one other way from the police department’s fleet — it’s a Dodge Charger.

 

Chief Paul Wynn said the only other vehicle available at the state contract price was a black Ford Crown Victoria. Though the Springfield Police Department has Crown Victorias, they are white. A white Crown Victoria would have cost nearly $1,000 more under the state contract price.

 

“I didn’t want to change the colors of the fleet,” Chief Wynn said. 

 

Chief Wynn also said the Crown Victoria line will cease production after next year. The Crown Victoria police interceptors, used throughout North

America, are expected to be replaced by a Ford Taurus police model. Wynn called the Crown Victoria “the perfect patrol unit.”

 

It’s also been two years since the city purchased a new patrol car, Wynn said.

 

The Dodge Charger has more power than the Crown Vic and its eight-cylinder variety also gets better gas mileage than a V6 Crown Victoria, Wynn told council members. “Smart technology” kicks the engine down to four-cylinder if an officer is cruising around in his unit and doesn’t need to put all the cylinders to use.

 

The money to buy the new unit will come from special local option sales tax proceeds.

 

Council members also approved an allocation of future SPLOST revenues from the upcoming referendum. Rather than approving specific projects to be tied to, City Manager Brett Bennett said the city would devote a set portion to each area. Roads and streets will get the largest chunk of the SPLOST proceeds, 40 percent, while water and wastewater will get 25 percent. Recreation will get 16 percent and public safety will get 15 percent.

Public buildings will receive the remaining 4 percent.

 

“There’s a lot of opportunities for that one-cent tax,” Council member Charles Hinely said.

 

The proposed SPLOST, which is projected to run for five years, will begin in July 2012 if approved by the voters.