Minnesota’s first electric fire truck is expected to be ready for its first run in St. Paul next month, a $1.8 million rig that city leaders herald as a symbol of their efforts to protect the environment and firefighters’ health, minnesotareformer.com reported.
When St. Paul announced the purchase in 2023, the city planned to apply for federal funding to cover the entire cost of the truck.
The city appealed to U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Tina Smith to request funding for the truck through Congressionally Directed Spending, often called earmarks, around March or April 2023, according to the report.
But fire trucks — electric or otherwise — haven’t been eligible for the type of funding they applied for, the report said.
The spending bill funding all the approved requests from across the country passed in March. That’s when the city found out the request wasn’t accepted, according to the report.
The city plans to apply for federal rebates to pay for the truck through the Inflation Reduction Act. But the city would only be eligible to receive a rebate of up to $40,000, the report said.
