Voters to decide future of CES equipment replacement

Proposition 4 on the Oct. 6 ballot will ask voters to allow the Kenai Peninsula Borough to issue $4.4 million in general obligation bonds. Central Emergency Services would use the money to replace a ladder truck and several other pieces of equipment that are either at or past the end of usefulness.

Before the last few expansions to the Central Peninsula Hospital, CPH, the 75-foot ladder truck operated by Central Emergency Services could reach to the top floors of the building. Now, it falls short of the top of that building and several others, including the dormitories at Kenai Peninsula College, said CES Chief Roy Browning.

“Our ladder truck is operationally obsolete, because when we bought it 20 years ago it was 75 feet long and at that time it was able to (account) for the City of Soldotna,” Browning said. “Since that growth has happened and we have more big box stores … we need a 100-foot ladder.”

Money from the bonds would be issued in two or more phases, according to the proposition, with the first phase set for 2016 for $2.1 million and the second phase for 2018 for $2.3 million. The bond money would not be used to expand the fleet, only to replace aging equipment including two engines, the ladder truck, a tanker and three ambulances, said CES Captain Terry Bookey.

To pay back the bonds, a yes vote on Prop 4 would also approve a .17 mill increase, or an extra annual $17 per $100,000 of assessed property value per taxpayer in the Central Emergency Service Area. That service area covers approximately 1,000 square miles, and the number of calls CES responds to continues to grow, Browning said.

“Our run volume goes up 7 percent a year,” he said. “That all adds up, and we’ve got to have the equipment to do it.”

CES is asking for the funding to compensate for a decrease in revenue that has prevented money from being put into savings, Browning said. Revenue collected through service area taxpayers took a hit starting in 2013 when voters agreed to increase the residential property tax exemption from $20,000 to $50,000. That has resulted in a loss of about $350,000 annually, Bookey said.

“Since 2013, it’s been a little over a million that the service area has lost,” he said.

Decreased help from the state has also put a dent in the CES revenue. Without replaced vehicles, Browning said the agency’s ability to respond to emergencies could be compromised.

“We used to get money from the state, and now they don’t have as much money for capital revenue sharing,” Browning said. “At this point, we don’t have reserve apparatuses so if one breaks down we don’t have anything else. We’ve got five fire stations that we need to keep running and there’s times when our ambulances were down.”

Usually, CES is able to replace equipment little by little each year with money it saves, but the decreased revenue from taxes has prevented any money from being put away.

“We’ve tried to cut expenses,” Bookey said. “We’ve cut three full-time jobs in the last three years.”

If the measure fails at the polls, CES personnel will keep working with what they’ve got. However, continuing to use outdated equipment could result in response vehicles being out of service more frequently, Bookey said. Browning said CES would continue seeking funding from the state as well.

The use of bonds to fund capital purchases is not a first for CES. The agency was issued $2.5 million in bonds in 2005 to fund the construction of a new fire station in Kasilof and upgrade an existing station in Funny River.

Reach Megan Pacer at megan.pacer@peninsulaclarion.com.

More in News

Syverine Bentz, coastal training program coordinator for the Kachemak Bay Research Reserve, displays a board of ideas during a Local Solutions meeting focused on salmon at the Cook Inletkeeper Community Action Studio in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
In search of salmon solutions

Cook Inletkeeper hosts meeting to develop community project to help salmon.

Lisa Gabriel, left, watches as beach seine nets are pulled from the waters of Cook Inlet at a test site for the gear near Kenai, Alaska, on Tuesday, July 30, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
CFEC to consider seines for east side setnet fishery

The change is contingent on the State Board of Fisheries approving the gear during their March meeting.

A map of 2025 construction projects scheduled for the Kenai Peninsula. (Provided by Alaska Department of Transportation and Public Facilities)
Department of Transportation announces construction plans

Most of the projects include work to various major highways.

Seward City Hall is seen under cloudy skies in Seward, Alaska, on Thursday, Nov. 7, 2024. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Seward adds full-time staffer for recently restarted teen rec room

Seward’s Parks and Recreation Department reclaimed responsibility for teen programming at the start of this year.

Gavin Ley stands with the “Go-Shopping Kart” he designed and built in his career and technical education courses at Nikiski Middle/High School in Nikiski, Alaska, on Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski students learn professional skills through technical education

Career and technical education gives students opportunity to learn skills, express themselves creatively, work cooperatively and make decisions.

Nikiski teachers, students and parents applaud Nikiski Middle/High Principal Mike Crain as he’s recognized as the Alaska Association of Secondary School Principals 2025 Region III Principal of the Year by the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District’s Board of Education during their meeting in Soldotna, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 3, 2025. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
Nikiski principal named Region III principal of the year

Crain has served as Nikiski’s principal for three years.

An 86 pound Kenai River king salmon is measured in Soldotna, Alaska, on June 29, 1995. (M. Scott Moon/Peninsula Clarion File)
Kenai River king salmon fishing closed entirely for 3rd year

Kenai River king salmon were designated a stock of management concern in 2023.

The Kenai Peninsula College Main Entrance on Aug. 18, 2022, in Soldotna, Alaska. (Jake Dye/Peninsula Clarion)
University of Alaska Board of Regents to meet in Soldotna

The last time the board met on the Kenai Peninsula was April 2012.

Kenai Peninsula Borough School District Board of Education member Penny Vadla and student representative Emerson Kapp speak to the joint Alaska House and Senate education committees in Juneau, Alaska, on Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Screenshot courtesy Gavel Alaska/KTOO)
KPBSD among dozens of districts to deliver in-person testimony to Alaska Legislature

Districts spotlighted programs already lost over years of stagnant funding that hasn’t met inflationary pressure.

Most Read