Miami commissioners are scheduled to vote today on a $150 million lease-purchase program to replace aging ambulances, police cruisers and fire trucks citywide, including the emergency vehicles that respond to calls in Coconut Grove.

The proposal would create a master financing agreement with Regions Capital Advantage Inc., allowing the city to spread payments over five to 15 years rather than buying vehicles outright. According to the resolution before commissioners, Miami operates an "extensively aged fleet" of police vehicles, fire-rescue apparatus, solid waste trucks and general-purpose equipment that has become increasingly costly to maintain.

Deal would fund vehicles across multiple departments

The $150 million program would finance ambulances, police vehicles, fire-rescue apparatus, motorcycles, sweepers, trailers, automobiles and other equipment across multiple city departments. Purchases would be made through multiple funding schedules over a three-year window after the agreement closes, allowing the city to replace vehicles in phases rather than all at once.

The city's financial adviser, PFM Financial Advisors LLC, issued a request for proposals in May. Multiple financial institutions responded, and the city's Finance Committee unanimously recommended Regions Capital Advantage. If approved, the city manager would be authorized to negotiate and execute the final agreement, provided the financing terms remain substantially consistent with the proposal reviewed by commissioners and acceptable to the city attorney.

Outright purchases pushed vehicles past their limits

According to the resolution, the city's traditional practice of purchasing fleet vehicles outright has made it difficult to keep pace with replacement needs. As vehicles remained in service beyond their intended life spans, maintenance costs climbed, breakdowns became more frequent and downtime increased, affecting service reliability across multiple departments. Officials say the lease-purchase model is intended to provide a more predictable replacement cycle while spreading costs over several budget years.

Grove relies on the same aging fleet

Miami Police and Miami Fire-Rescue serve Coconut Grove with the same fleet targeted for replacement. The resolution states the vehicles support essential services for nearly half a million residents throughout the city, making fleet reliability a public safety issue as well as an operational one.

Fleet plan runs alongside separate bond measure

The fleet program is separate from the $450 million Safe and Ready Miami bond referendum heading to the Nov. 3 ballot. That measure, approved 3-2 by commissioners July 9, would fund new and upgraded police and fire stations. The lease-purchase proposal focuses on replacing the vehicles that operate from those facilities, while the bond would finance improvements to the buildings themselves.

Commissioner Ralph Rosado, who voted for the bond, spoke about the urgency of public safety investment during the July 9 meeting.

"My dad had a heart attack. ... Fire-rescue saved his life within five minutes," Rosado told colleagues, as reported by the Miami Herald. "I cannot, in good conscience, say that I can't support giving voters the right to choose what they want the response times to their families to be."

Also on today's agenda is a Rosado-sponsored charter amendment that would establish a permanent citizen oversight committee to audit bond-funded projects and maintain a public online dashboard tracking project costs, timelines and progress.

Residents can follow today's commission meeting agenda on the City of Miami's website.