SALEM — The finance committee discussed a request for the city to purchase new mowers for the parks department in its meeting Tuesday.

Parks Director Kelli Pastore requested the city consider purchasing two new Ferris mowers for the department at an estimated cost of $35,500 in the city council’s Nov. 18 meeting.

At that meeting, Pastore said that the department’s current Wright mowers were experiencing maintenance and manufacturing issues which hadn’t been foreseen when they were purchased and that if one were to completely break down that the department would be unable to maintain the parks properly. She argued that with many of the city’s upcoming events for its U.S. 250 Ohio programming set to be held within the parks, that there would be higher maintenance requirements that normal which will further exacerbate the mowers’ issues.

Tuesday, City Councilman Jeff Stockman asked if the department, which operates as a semi-autonomous entity with its own budget, had a dedicated capital improvement fund for equipment purchases like new mowers.

Pastore explained that while the department’s budget had line items for capital improvement, the 2025 budget, which was compiled by her predecessor, did not budget money for those line items and instead budgeted them for facilities repairs. She also said that when she compiled the department’s budget for 2026, spending cuts had been made across the department’s operations to begin rebuilding an annual carryover for future capital expenses like new mowers.

Stockman further asked how the department’s expenses had risen to current levels and Pastore and Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey both cited increased labor and maintenance costs, and a buildup of necessary repairs to aging facilities across the approximately 400 acres the department maintains on a weekly basis.

Councilman and Committee Chair Andrew Null asked where the money for the purchase would be drawn from if the city agreed to purchase the mowers and Dickey said it could be taken from either the city’s general fund or capital outlay fund. City Service Safety Director Joe Cappuzzello said that if the city would be taking money from the capital outlay fund, it would be better to expense the $35,500 from the remaining money in the fund this year, as less money was being budgeted to it in the upcoming 2026 city budget.

The committee ultimately voted unanimously to authorize Dickey to encumber funds from the capital outlay fund and purchase a voucher for two Ferris mowers in 2025 to be delivered in 2026.