(Spirit Lake)– Plans by the Dickinson County Emergency Management Agency to install outdoor warning sirens in four different parts of the county are running into financial problems.
Deputy Emergency Management Coordinator Kate Whitrock told the board of supervisors Tuesday they want to install one of the sirens on the north side of West Lake Okoboji; one on the west side of Big Spirit Lake; and two on East Lake Okoboji.
Cost of the sirens, including installation and poles, was estimated at about 11-thousand dollars each.
That money would have to come out of the county’s rural services fund, which has been hit hard by recent budget cuts made by the state legislature. Those cuts have resulted in the county’s projected reserve for the upcoming fiscal year shrinking from eight percent to four percent.
Supervisor Mardi Allen says the county simply doesn’t have the money to purchase the sirens. And Witrock doesn’t hold out much hope of being able to land any grants for them.
