Henniker may have lost money selling fire-damaged trucks as scrap
HENNIKER - A fire in the town garage has led to a jump in the town's insurance rate and now some officials say the town could have sold the damaged equipment for more than the $500 it got for scrap.
“The taxpayers took a hit on this,” Bill Goss told the Concord Monitor. “It’s a big nickel.”
He and several members of a special truck committee expressed frustration about a lack of communication about the sale between town officials and the committee.
“I thought we were working together,” Fred Brunnhoelzl said. “We could have salvaged it; we could have sold it.”
Brunnhoelzl said the committee had hoped to salvage some of the equipment and use it on newly acquired trucks to save money. Town officials recently replaced three badly burned dump trucks with new vehicles and are in the process of getting a new grader.
Town Administrator Chris Trovato took responsibility for selling the equipment and said it was an honest mistake.
Later in the meeting, Trovato revealed more bad news related to the fire: the town’s insurance rate is going up 23 percent. Trovato said that rate spike was for the town’s general liability insurance.
