Quorum Court amends 2025 budget to fund 9-1-1 battery backup; ordinance passes

Saline County’s Quorum Court voted to amend the 2025 budget to fund a battery-backup system for the consolidated 9-1-1 dispatch center, citing repeated outages that interrupted emergency calls.

Speaker 4 and Justice Curtis described recent failures: the court heard that the 9-1-1 center lost power three times in five days, creating brief periods when callers were disconnected while waiting for a transfer switch or generator to restore service. The battery backup will bridge the short gap between power loss and generator activation.

Comptroller Angie explained the purchase will be covered by reimbursement grant money tied to the county’s PSAP consolidation eligibility; she said the county is eligible for up to $400,000 in reimbursement once it documents eligible, serviceable equipment purchases. Justice Curtis and others said prior grant applications had not provided timely relief and the immediate operational need justified using available reimbursement funds.

The court moved, seconded and conducted a roll-call vote. Clerk-led roll call recorded affirmative votes for Bizby, Hatcher, Billingsley, Callum, Bellinger, Curtis, Engle, Whitley, Chisholm Johnson and Carlson; Speaker 1 announced the ordinance (recorded in the minutes as 2025-18) had passed. The comptroller indicated the 9-1-1 fund has an unappropriated balance that will cover the expenditure but noted some ongoing revenue pressures—especially declining landline fee revenue—that will require monitoring.

The court directed staff to implement the equipment purchase as amended and scheduled follow-up during upcoming budget meetings in late November and Dec. 1, when supplemental budgets and final adoption will be addressed.