By Carmen Ensinger
It has been over two-and-a-half years since the Greene County Board approved the purchase of a new ambulance, but due to COVID and the delay it caused in virtually every manufacturing field, the delivery of the ambulance was delayed.
In fact, they are still waiting on it. Craig Smith, a representative of the company from which they ordered the ambulance spoke to the Judiciary Committee to let them know just where they are at as far as delivery.
Earlier this year, the board approved the purchase of another ambulance since they are on a two-year rotation to purchase a new ambulance.
“We have one of them pretty much complete,” Smith said. “It is done, but we got the bumper in and it was damaged – that is the hold up. Also, they are built in North Carolina and that is where the hurricane hit. It will be out in Columbia this month for a maximum of 10 days.”
The official order date for this ambulance was April 12, 2022.
“Our original problem was the chassis,” Smith said. “We have them now, but we are backlogged. The orders kept coming in but we couldn’t build them. That made our order bank go really high. Now, we are building them, but we are still playing catch up. Before COVID, the time to build an ambulance was five months. After COVID it was three years. Now it is down to two.”
Prices have gone up considerably over the past two years, but Smith said that won’t affect the cost of this ambulance.
“What we have been doing is holding our pricing to what you were quoted,” he said. “This was priced a long time ago, but there will be no escalation in pricing. What you were quoted is what you will be paying. We are taking a $12,000 hit on the chassis alone. Plus, you are getting a 2024 chassis instead of a 2022.”