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WEST MILFORD - Council puts $40K toward new $200K ambulance
(by David M. Zimmer - Staff Writer - September 17, 2008)
WEST MILFORD - After going through two fruitless bidding cycles trying to purchase a new ambulance for the West Milford First Aid Squad, township officials recently decided to increase the budget appropriation for the vehicle to nearly $200,000.
Last Wednesday, the Township Council approved a plan to move $40,000 from a 2008 appropriation for an ambulance to a 2007 appropriation for another ambulance. Prior to this move, the 2007 funding had repeatedly fallen short of that needed to secure a bid on a new vehicle. The council’s action increases the 2007 funding to $190,000 and decreases the 2008 funding to $110,000, which would not be enough to purchase a second vehicle.
Throughout each of the two bidding periods, the township could not obtain a proposal for a new ambulance under $163,700. Each bid came in roughly $10,000 over the limit of the 2007 appropriation.
Township Clerk and Acting Township Administrator Antoinette Battaglia said municipal officials were able to negotiate on a price after failing the second bidding process. However, they were still unable to come up with a price they could afford with funding appropriated in 2007, when ambulances cost much less, squad representative Rob Jirouschek said.
Due to the increasing prices of metal, clean diesel technology and hydraulics, specialty vehicles like ambulances continue to go up in cost in spite of recent savings on other gas-guzzlers, Jirouschek said.
Consequently, he asked the council for more funding to replace one of the squad’s aging ambulances.
“All I want to do is provide quality care to the township,” he said.
Regardless of the growing costs of new ambulances, Jirouschek said that the First Aid Squad is currently spending as much as $30,000 annually to keep each of its two dilapidated ambulances on the road. He added that the longer the township delays purchasing new ambulances, the less money will be generated from trading in the older vehicles.
Battaglia recommended that the township add $40,000 to the 2007 fund from the 2008 budget appropriation of $150,000. This would create a total of roughly $190,000 for the new ambulance the town wanted to buy in 2007.
Due to the $193,500 cap, there will likely be a few vendors that will bid under the limit so the township will be able to purchase the first ambulance relatively soon, Battaglia said.
However, the new cap also means a new bidding process. As a result, the township could receive bids much higher than the previous low bid of $163,700 and have to pay more than it would like for a new vehicle.
Any money left over from the purchase of an ambulance will be put back into the 2008 budget for the purchase of a second ambulance, Battaglia added.
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