New Wheels For Montgomery County Sheriff's Office
By Jim Melwert
MONTGOMERY COUNTY, PA (CBS) -- The Montgomery County Sheriff's office is showing off some new wheels. Friday afternoon the sheriff's office announced the addition of 3 new Ford Fusion plug-in hybrid sedans aimed to save taxpayers money and help protect the environment.
Sheriff Russell Bono says, for the most part, these cars will be used to serve civil papers, he says they serve about 48 thousand civil papers each year.
"Our vehicles are on the road every day," Bono says. "Racking up mileage at 75 to 100 miles per day, so that's a lot of mileage."
The new cars cost 35 thousand, 18 thousand of which was used to equip them with hybrid technology. Montgomery County Commissioner Josh Shapiro says they got a grant from Pennsylvania DEP to cover half that cost.
"It will take us 3.7 years to make up the additional cost," Shapiro says. "These vehicles will be used far longer than 3.7 years."
The sheriff says the new cars can do anything previous cars did, and as they can switch to gas, there are no concerns over limited range.