City gets $11 million bill for interest on Louisville firefighter pensions

You are so right. The managers at Newburg seem to have a little chip on their shoulders. They act like you are asking them to perform a miracle. I guess their attitude is: your car is free for you so you will be as inconvenienced as long as it takes. I couldn't even get any stupid floor mats without having to listen to a speech about shortages. I went to Walmart and bought my own. I am so sick of the stress of having a car, I am seriously considering surrendering it. I can get my own car and the LMPD car is a royal Piece Of Ship anyway. No favors received here.

Like we would REALLY get a 10 thousand dollar raise........Jerrys gone, lets give this Mayor a chance!

Call up there and see how long it takes you to even get through! geeeeeeezzzzzz

I have never had a problem with my mechanic or either garage. Yes there are moments when things take longer than I would like, but my personal car has been in the shop at Swope longer for less.

Have you ever thought the problem might be you?

The current staffing levels were the result of an efficiency experts review in 2003 when the city was looking for ways to reduce redundancy as a result of two governments merging and having two shops. The staffing decision was based on two main components:

1) fleet size

2) anticipated service life of vehicles

The police fleet has not really changed much over the last eight years but the shop has taken on more responsibilities for other non-police vehicles. However, our fleet was based on a 66 month model which means that we were expecting to take vehicles out of service before they reached the age and mileage where most major repairs/replacements start occurring. The most common of these are transmissions, rear end assemblies, suspensions, etc... These are time consuming repairs and consequently are causing major delays in normal services.

The city has not added any mechanics and based on the service life of our vehicles we should have anywhere from 8 to 12 additional mechanics on staff. They are doing what we all are expected to do these days - more with less.

Please be patient and respectful, they are doing a great job under the circumstances. And remember - you are not paying the tab when you get your car fixed so that is always a good thing.

Stay safe.