Arlington Heights will buy four more hybrid vehicles

Once again purchasing hybrid vehicles is controversial in Arlington Heights.

The village board voted 5-3 Monday night to use a federal grant to help defray the extra cost of purchasing four hybrid vehicles. They will cost $116,485 - $39,000 more than the same vehicles would cost in regular gasoline versions. A federal energy-saving grant will cover all but $10,000 of that difference.

Gasoline savings over 10 years should recoup the $10,000 in village costs, according to the village staff.

Voting against the purchases were Norman Breyer, Joseph Farwell and Thomas Glasgow.

In 2008, the village purchased four Toyota Prius cars, with Breyer and Farwell voting against them at that time. Trustee John Scarletta also voted "no" in 2008. On Monday he noted that the predicted savings in gasoline would mean the village would save a little money with the hybrids. Glasgow was not on the board when the Prius vote was taken.

"We laid off people because of fiscal concerns," said Breyer, adding $30,000 would have been better spent on keeping an employee than on "environmental experimentation."

Farwell agreed, saying: "I don't understand how we can spend the extra money of the village's, let alone the federal government's money."

Mayor Arlene Mulder said the board should consider the village's carbon footprint, especially because the Chicago region is not meeting air quality standards. Charles Witherington Perkins, director of Planning & Community Development, said it is estimated the four vehicles - a Ford Fusion sedan and three Four Escape SUVs - will emit 5.2 fewer tons of carbon each year than the larger ones they are replacing.

In other business the board passed the village's budget of $135 million including a general fund of $62 million that eliminates the teen center - without any public comment.

The board also gave Pace a nine-month extension till the end of 2010 to tear down its old building at 550 W. Algonquin Road. Arranging to move Pace's print shop to an industrial park in Elk Grove Village took longer than expected, said Rosemarie Truppa, Pace's manager of capital financing and infrastructure.