Renton To Spend $2 Million On New SUVs For Police Perk Program

RENTON, WA - The city of Renton is poised to buy 32 model year 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe SUVs at a cost of more than $60,000 each for a program meant to attract experienced police officers. The vehicles will cost just over $2 million, about $400,000 more than the city originally planned to spend.

In November 2017, the City Council approved a budget amendment to pay for the police Take Home Cars Program. The program calls for the city to purchase 58 new full-size SUVs. The other 24 SUVs were purchased in 2018. When the 2019 budget was adopted last November, the Council approved spending $1.65 million on the take-home vehicles this year.

The program is used as a recruiting tool by the department - along with $10,000 bonuses - and appears in lateral police job advertisements. Other local police departments, including Seattle and Bellevue, are offering similar perks to attract experienced officers.

Renton will spend just over $38,000 to buy each Tahoe, but each vehicle comes with after-market upgrades to make them suitable for police use, items like lights, electrical upgrades, and special door locks. Those upgrades cost between $22,000 and $24,400 per vehicle. The 2019 Tahoe, according to General Motors, gets about 15 miles-per-gallon on city streets, and 21 MPG on the highway. The city projects the vehicles will have to be replaced in 8 years.

The expenditure comes as Renton deals with an impending budget imbalance due to the loss of revenue and growing personnel costs.

"With the loss of annexation sales tax and an inflationary adjustment for future wages and projected employee medical benefit cost increases, a gap will occur in 2019 and continue to grow larger beyond the current biennium. The ongoing gap requires long‐term, sustainable solutions," the 2019-20 budget book reads.

The expenditure will be before City Council on Monday. The measure will be voted on as part of the Council's consent agenda, which allows the Council to approve multiple measures all at once.

Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated the fuel efficiency of the 2019 Chevrolet Tahoe. The SUV gets a combined 17 MPG and has a 26-gallon fuel tank.