Clark County Board of Supervisors Debate on Borrowing $3 Million for Public Safety Communication Project
Thursday, December 18th, 2014 -- 9:22 AM
-The Clark County Board of Supervisors approved borrowing $3 million from the Wisconsin Trust Fund to help pay for the county's $4.6 million public safety communication project.The Clark County Finance Committee found a way to receive these funds without raising taxes for county residents. The new communication project debt, starting in 2016, will replace the current debt the county will pay off in 2015. The annual payments are almost the same.
The decision did not come easily as there was still a lot of debate by the board. Some members of the county board insisted that there had to be a cheaper option and they had been presented the "Cadillac" option for the system. Clark County Emergency Management Director John Ross told them that when the study was completed on the county's system, he told the company that they didn't want the "Cadillac" option, but they didn't want the "bare bones" option either. The $4.6 million system was the "middle of the road," but effective option.
There was also debate on a contingency fund in case items cost more than estimated, questions on why some of the current system that's working fine can't still be used, questions on cost of maintenance and more. In the end, the board approved the resolution 20, 9 and approved amending the 2015 budget to include that money 23, 6.
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