March 10, 2009

Westchester County Government is “recycling” its old buses to help save taxpayer dollars.

“This is yet another element of our shared services program,” said County Executive Andy Spano, referring to the county’s program to share services with local governments, schools and other districts to save taxpayer money. “We have identified 57 used shuttle and paratransit vans to give to local governments and districts to save them money. The vans are done with their life as transit vehicles but now we have found a second use for them.”

These vans will be used  by local recreation departments, fire departments, police agencies and senior programs. This is an expansion of a program begun in 2004, in which the used vans were leased to communities. 

The following are communities with pending van sales:

Bedford Buchanan PD Eastchester EMS Elmsford Greenburgh PD Greenburgh (Library) Irvington PD Mamaroneck Village PD Mount Vernon Mount Kisco

New Rochelle New Rochelle PD North Castle PD Pelham (Town) Port Chester PD Pleasantville Rye (Town) Tarrytown Yonkers PD Yorktown PD

The 35 20-passenger shuttle vans previously leased to 31 local communities at a nominal cost of $1 were as follows:

Briarcliff Manor FD Dobbs Ferry Dutchess County (3 vans) Eastchester Greenburgh Greenburgh PD (2 vans) Lewisboro Mamaroneck Town Mamaroneck Village Mamaroneck Village PD

Mount Vernon (2 vans) Mount Vernon FD Mount Vernon PD New Castle New Rochelle New Rochelle FD New Rochelle PD Ossining – Town Peekskill Port Chester

Port Chester FD Pound Ridge Sleepy Hollow Somers Tarrytown PD Verplanck FD White Plains FD White Plains PD Yonkers PD Yonkers FD Yorktown

The current leases will be converted for sale in the coming months.

For more information about the van recycling program, contact John Faye by phone at (914) 813-7763 or by e-mail at jcf3@westchestergov.com.

This is one in a series of initiatives that Westchester County government has implemented to reduce the costs shouldered by local governments and districts. Last July, the county promoted cooperative buying by procurement officers of local governments interested in getting the best deals offered to the county. The county designated a “shared services coordinator” to continue to explain the procurement process. It also provides training and information to those agencies that wish to generate the sale of surplus property.

The county’s shared services program also provides free use of its mobile shredder, access to minority and women-owned businesses and many other services. For more information, visit www.westchestergov.com/sharedservices.