Fresno police will be getting a new helicopter to help out, which comes at the hefty price tag of nearly $7 million.
Thursday, the Fresno City Council approved a 10-year lease-purchase agreement with Banc of America Public Capital Corporation for an Airbus H125 police helicopter.
The big picture: The city is splitting its purchase in order to save more $850,000. Fresno is purchasing a base helicopter from Airbus and is contracting with Hanger One Avionics to purchase and install the essential equipment. That brings the cost down by $861,745 from what it would have been if the city bought the entire package from Airbus.
- The base helicopter costs $4.7 million, with the equipment from Hangar One Avionics running $2.26 million.
- Three pilots will pick up the helicopter at Airbus’ production center in Columbus, Mississippi and fly it to Hangar One Avionics, which is expected to take three to four days.
- Fresno is paying a downpayment of $1.3 million for the helicopter and estimated annual payments of $600,000.
- The city expects to have the helicopter in hand in spring 2025.
- The city has already budgeted for the downpayment and the first lease payment. City Manager Georgeanne White said the $600,000 payments over the following nine years will come from the general fund, meaning the police department’s budget would increase by that amount without any line item reductions.
Driving the news: Fresno police currently own two EC120 Colibri helicopters, the first of which was purchased in 2003.
- That helicopter has over 14,700 flight hours on it and is scheduled for its next major maintenance in 2027.
- Since the helicopter model is out of production, the scheduled maintenance is expected to cost $300,000, which is $100,000 more than last time and does not include any potential mechanical issues.
- Interim Police Chief Mindy Casto told the City Council that maintenance costs will only increase since parts are getting harder to find.
By the numbers: Casto told the council that the police department has clocked in around 1,200 flight hours so far with its helicopters this year, responding to over 2,400 events.
- The average response time for the helicopters to get anywhere in the city is 61 seconds this year, up from 54 seconds last year and 50 seconds in 2022.
- The helicopters have assisted in 158 felony arrests and 72 misdemeanors this year. In 2023, they assisted in 260 felony arrests and 85 misdemeanors.
- The helicopters have been first on the scene at 1,476 incidents this year and 2,279 last year.
- They have also engaged in 45 vehicle pursuits and 86 foot pursuits this year.
