It may take a couple of years, but county commissioners took the first steps to buy a rebuilt ambulance.
Michael Burnett, Iola’s EMS director, offered a proposal that would rebuild one of the county’s older ambulance units with a new chassis for $212,000. That’s about $150,000 less than the cost of a new unit.
Burnett brought a representative of American Response Vehicles, Tim Leitnaker, to answer questions about the process. Each of the five units in the county’s current fleet was purchased from ARV.
The company would refurbish an older unit and remount it on a new chassis from Ford. There’s about a two-year waiting list for the service. The remounting process itself takes about 90 days. ARV would not take possession of the vehicle until it was time for the remount, which means the county would only be without the unit for a short time.
The cost won’t change in the meantime.
Commissioners were ready to approve Burnett’s request but asked if it might be possible to work with a local Ford dealer to purchase the chassis. Leitnaker said they could, but he expected they’d find the cost would be about the same as if they went through ARV’s dealers.
Commissioners asked for another week to research that option.
Burnett also told commissioners he had been contacted by the Kansas Highway Patrol about a surplus used SUV available for $35,175. The vehicle would be used to assist ambulance crews and would replace an aging vehicle.
Commissioners weren’t sure where the money to buy the SUV would come from — perhaps from the wind farm’s annual $250,000 payment in lieu of taxes — but Commissioner Jerry Daniels said he would rather agree to the purchase now because of high demand for used vehicles, and figure out the funding later.
The county agreed to a new EMS contract with the City of Iola earlier this summer. Burnett soon approached commissioners about the need to upgrade its fleet of vehicles and equipment, which is part of the county’s responsibility.
Humboldt, streets and tax credits
Humboldt City Administrator Cole Herder thanked county road crews for help with recent chip-and-seal street repair projects, and for recent efforts for striping on the old highway south of the city.
He also spoke about entrepreneurship tax credits available to county residents through NetWork Kansas.
The Kansas Center for Entrepreneurship Tax Credit was created to provide seed capital for entrepreneurs and small business owners in rural and distressed areas.
The program offers a 75% tax credit for donations between $250 and $133,333. For example, someone who donates $1,000 will receive a $750 credit toward their state income tax liability. Individuals, banks and some corporations can apply.
