Putnam County Emergency Communication’s Board Passes Budget

Putnam County’s Emergency Communications Board passed its 2023-24 Budget on the second reading Thursday.

Director Penny Foister said this year’s budget stayed mostly the same as last year’s, with only a few minor things being changed to deal with rising costs due to inflation.

“The fringe benefits that we pay for for our dispatchers, maintenance and support costs of course go up a little bit,” Foister said. “And then just the same inflation costs that everybody else is dealing with, fuel costs more, the different things that you know prices have gone up in the past year or two.”

Foister said all of the changes made were relatively small in dollar amounts, which makes it easier to get the budget passed since there is no major changes. She said the board is financially stable right now due to getting good interest rates.

“With us getting good interest rates right now, we’re getting more income,” Foister said. “So that’s pretty much paying for a lot of things that I did have to ask for.”

The board also voted to move $250,000 from the Money Market account to a Certificate of Deposits account. Foister said this was to allow the money to gain interest since it was a surplus that was not being used for anything.