The Putnam County Commission approved the upcoming fiscal year budget last night.
The budget includes a $2.73 property tax rate, which is unchanged from last year.
Not included in that budget was a request for three full time county firefighters. Chief Tom Brown said he requested the three positions to add more manpower at station-21 in Monterey.
“Response times in the east end of the county average 12.5 minutes and can be as long as 25 minutes,” Brown said. “With full-time personnel in the station an apparatus will respond in 90 seconds, which will greatly reduce the response times. This area is currently our problem child with volunteers.”
A motion to fund the full-time positions failed during last night’s meeting. Funding the positions would have cost the county about $126,000 with benefits included.
The budget does include funding for four additional employees for the county ambulance service and four new corrections officers at the Putnam County Jail.
