The City of Paterson, N.J., is seeking $1 million to purchase new street sweepers only three years after it spent $1.24 million on the last batch.

Three years ago, the city purchased seven street sweepers from RAVO, a manufacturer it had not worked with before. Public Works Director Manny Ojeda told city council members these sweepers are expensive to maintain and suffer from breakdowns, reports the Paterson Times.

The city sent out the sweepers for maintenance, and in one case last year, maintenance was halted during a payment dispute between the city and its vendor. Streets were not swept for weeks while the dispute was handled. With so many maintenance issues, public works has placed a few of its retired sweepers back into service. 

If the purchase is approved, the latest batch of sweepers will still be used on smaller streets and parking lots.