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Kaneland may lease buses to get newer rides and lower costs

Move could mean newer vehicles, saving money

The Kaneland school district might stop buying buses and start leasing them to save money and have a newer fleet.

Associate Superintendent Julie-Ann Fuchs on Monday presented a proposal to the school board to lease 30 buses, each with seating for 71 passengers, from Midwest Transit for two years at a cost of $739,140.

The district would then lease 28 or so additional buses from Midwest Transit or another company in 2016, also for two years.

The district's financial advisory committee recommends leasing, Fuchs said, for both financial and safety reasons.

The other options presented were to buy five or 10 buses. Midwest Transit was the low bidder for five buses, at $420,040 before trade-in, and $829,580 for 10 buses after trade-in.

Kaneland owns 58 full-size buses. Forty-three of them had more than 100,000 miles as of June 30, 2014, according to a list Fuchs presented. The oldest buses are a 2001 International that had 179,724 miles on it and a 2004 International bus with 181,818 miles, according to the list.

If Kaneland leases the buses, the district's mechanics would still maintain them. Any warranty-related repairs would be reimbursed by Midwest Transit, Fuchs said.

Fuchs told the board she estimates the district could save $250,000 a year on busing costs.

But board members have to realize that once the district starts leasing buses, she said, it is unlikely it could go back to buying the buses, due to the cost, she said. And it wouldn't have the flexibility it did during the recession, where it postponed buying buses to stretch the budget.

Before the recession, the district usually replaced seven or eight buses per year. It bought no 2010 models, two 2011 models, and one each of 2012 and 2013 models. It picked up the pace in 2013 and 2014, buying a total of 11 buses.

There would be a limit of 35,000 miles per year, 70,000 total over two years, per bus. If the district logged more miles than that, it would have to pay a per-mile surcharge, Fuchs said.

Even though the buses would be leased, they would still say "Kaneland" on the sides, as required by state law, Fuchs said.

If it goes to leasing, the district would sell its buses to Midwest Transit.

The Geneva and St. Charles school districts lease their buses. The Batavia school district contracts with First Student to provide busing.

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