The Kenai Peninsula Borough Assembly, at their meeting on Tuesday, approved to move forward with the issuance of a bond that would cover the cost of an ambulance for $213,636, and a new gurney system for $37,331.70. The total is $250,967. Back in October of 2015, voters on the Kenai Peninsula approved bonds for the purchase of emergency response vehicles for Central Emergency Services.
CES Chief Roy Browning, discussing the timing of the ambulance purchase: “It was regularly scheduled. We plan our our vehicle replacements over ten years, and this was one scheduled from the Bond proceeds from 2015. The replacement ambulance was purchased through that replacement schedule.”
He also says there is a calculated reason behind a separate gurney purchase: “We buy them separately because it actually saves taxpayer dollars by buying them separately and having them shipped directly to the factory. If we spec it with it already in the ambulance, there’s a five to ten percent extra charge attached to the ambulance. So, this is a cheaper way of doing that and still keeping the same quality of the gurney system so it’s all part of the same unit.”
The ambulance purchase will be done through the Houston-Galveston Area Council, while the gurney system will be purchased through Stryker.