Joliet is ready to embark on a vehicle replacement program starting with seven snow plow trucks from the 1990s.

Those trucks are among 46 vehicles and pieces of equipment the city plans to replace this year at a cost of $4.6 million.

Vehicles on the replacement list range from Chevy and Dodge pickups estimated to cost $25,000 per truck to a quint truck for the fire department priced at $1.25 million.The snow plow trucks will cost $220,000 each to replace.

City department heads have advocated for the program funded with a 3-cent hike in the city gas tax, saying it is needed to update a badly aging fleet of vehicles and equipment.

"I've got people working for me that are driving trucks that are older than they are," said Public Assets Supervisor Mike Eulitz.

The program calls for the city to continue replacing vehicles and equipment at the rate of $1.6 million a year, the annual amount the tax hike is designed to collect. The city will take out a $4 million bond to help fund the first year of the program.

The City Council votes Tuesday on the program, which has been the subject of controversy because of the tax hike used to fund it. The city tax on gasoline was increased from 1 cent to 4 cents in February, a hike approved for the 2020 budget.

Mayor Bob O’Dekirk and Councilman Larry Hug objected to the tax hike. O’Dekirk last month objected to the program not being put in place soon enough, saying the tax was being collected while the city wasn’t replacing vehicles.

O'Dekirk and Hug didn't say anything at a Monday workshop meeting of the city council where the program was reviewed along with other items up for votes on Tuesday.

Hug did participate in a discussion of the program previously at a meeting of the Public Service Committee, which he chairs, and joined in a 3-0 vote to recommend approval of the program.

Department heads again talked about the need to replace vehicles and equipment.

"It's a blessing and a curse when you have these things so long," David Braner, chief information officer for the city, told the committee. "They have to be taken out because they're costing us dearly on the back end."

He pointed to one police car with nearly 170,000 miles on it.

Braner called the replacement program "a shift in policy. It's a shift in thinking."

The program in the first year replaces 10 police cars, including 1996 and 1998 Ford Crown Victorias. The 1998 Ford, however, has only 58,000 miles on it.

The city will replace four street sweepers, the oldest one being from 1989 and the newest 1995. Street sweepers will cost about $280,000 each.