HOUSTON -- Some of Houston’s police helicopters are more than thirty years old. Now, Houston's City Council has ensured they’ll get at least a week older.

A proposal to buy six new choppers for roughly $17 million dollars was delayed a week on the request of Council Members Anne Clutterbuck and Pam Holm, each for different reasons.

Holm questioned whether the city needs to spend millions of dollars on relatively few vehicles, when there’s also a need for hundreds of new police cars and money to pay additional officers.

Clutterbuck said she is worried that purchasing six helicopters all at once will only create further problems for future administrations – because they would all presumably need to be replaced at the same time, ten years from now. She urged HPD and the city’s purchasing department to stagger such large purchases to avoid sudden changes in fleets.

Joe Fenninger, the chief financial officer for the Houston Police Department, said the choppers would be paid for over a 15 year budget cycle. Some of the helicopters would include “forward-looking infrared radar,” which would allow officers to track suspects and moving vehicles at night.

Trainer Steven Lee is looking forward to the eight new choppers that could soon be flying in.

The new aircraft would cut down on maintenance, beefing up patrols and finally replacing the training helicopter which is now 33-years-old.

Upgrades include better night vision technology and automatic spotlights.

“If we want to stay up with LA or Phoenix or New York, we’ll have to do this increase,” said Lee.

Currently at least one Houston Police Department helicopter is permanently grounded, and others can only fly during daylight hours. The two choppers the Department uses to train officers can only hold two people, can’t carry spotlights, and were purchased in 1975.

In fact, back in the 1970s at any given time, HPD had 16 helicopters ready to patrol. Today there are four.

This proposed purchase would bring that number up to 12.

“We have probably let this get all the way to the edge,” said council member Melissa Noriega. “Helicopters are less forgiving than ground vehicles if there’s a malfunction.”

Council Member Toni Lawrence said the cost to keep the city’s older helicopters in the air is increasing daily due to higher maintenance costs. The city’s overall crime rate would come down if the police were able to patrol more neighborhoods from the air, especially at night, as would become possible under the purchase.

The City Council will consider the measure again at a meeting next week. A majority of members spoke in support of the purchase Wednesday, but individual council members reserve the right to “tag” an item, which delays it for a week.

“I support the helicopter program,” Holm said after issuing a ‘tag.’ “I have some questions, when we have ‘x’ amount of dollars whether our priorities are justified. I’d like a week to be able to support and understand it, but I’m not questioning the validity of the program.”

The city council is likely to approve the choppers next week.

They’d arrive this summer, and then HPD would split the city in two.

One chopper would patrol north of I-10, and one south, almost constantly.

That’ll cut response time in half or better.

And, the new helicopters will finally have air conditioning.

“Ever since I’ve been out here we’ve never had air conditioning we’ve always just taken off the doors,” said Lee.

The new fleet could be one of the coolest—in the country.