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Cass County ESB warns $9.5 million radio upgrade will consume surplus; urges funding plan
Summary
Chris Turnbull, chair of the Cass County Emergency Services Board, told the Belton City Council the Motorola radio infrastructure upgrade will use nearly all the ESB's roughly $10 million surplus and said a newly transferred county use tax should help fund operations and equipment replacement.
Chris Turnbull, chair of the Cass County Emergency Services Board, told the Belton City Council that a planned Motorola radio infrastructure upgrade of about $9.5 million will draw down nearly all of the board's roughly $10 million surplus.
Turnbull summarized the board's financial history and operational changes dating to the 2012 sales-tax measure that funded a countywide interoperable radio system and 9-1-1 services. He said the ESB currently collects about $1.2 million a year after the tax rolled back to one-eighth cent in 2019, and that the ESB has recently used modest reserves to balance operations. “The other shoe is getting ready to fall,” Turnbull said, describing the timing of the Motorola upgrade and ongoing maintenance commitments.
The ESB chair told the council that the county recently passed a change that will transfer an existing county use tax directly to the ESB, an…
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