How much does it cost to keep that doggie off the street?

If it’s the specially outfitted Ford F-250 pickup truck that Lathrop Police Services uses to respond to animal control calls that you’re measuring it by, it’s $53,000.

The Lathrop City Council approved staff’s request to purchase a 2016 Ford pickup truck from a specialty dealer in Sacramento that will deliver it with all of the equipment required to handle the job of keeping stray animals off the street – including six compartments and a rear air conditioning unit.

The request came as part of an overall city policy to reduce expenditures to only replace vehicles when absolutely necessary – that have either excessive mileage or are no longer operational.

Funding will come from the capital equipment replacement reserves fund, and was approved as part of the city’s 2015/16 budget back in June.

Currently the animal control unit is using a 2001 Dodge Ram pickup truck that has 71,000 miles on it.

The City of Lathrop conducts its own animal calls, but has a contract to rent space at the City of Manteca’s newly-built animal shelter. Discussions have been had about the city building its own facility in order to cut down on long-term costs, but no official decisions have been made.

According to staff, the reason for the replacement request is because the cost of repairing the vehicle exceeds its actual value, and it will be declared as surplus and sold at auction.

It will take four months for the new truck to be delivered to the city.