MONTGOMERY Co. – A public hearing to appropriate a one percent budget amendment (up to $10 million) to the current FY 2024-2025 budget was held during the Mar. 24 Montgomery County Board of Supervisors meeting. The funds of no more than $10 million would provide emergency radio infrastructure that is not currently existing in parts of the county.
“It will benefit all the public safety agencies throughout the county as well as provide opportunities in the future for other partners who might want to use some of that infrastructure,” County Administrator Angie Hill said.
Hill also explained that the other members of the New River Valley Emergency Communications Regional Authority (NRV 911) – Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Virginia Tech – will be providing their portion of the cost through cash funding. Montgomery County would use some debt payments to meet with the improvement costs if cash funding is not approved, but cash funding would reduce this debt and save on interest for the county. There would be future maintenance costs in the future of $250,000, Hill said, but financial planning would be made to meet this ongoing fee.
Citizens were invited to speak on the topic, with only one individual addressing supervisors.
“This is a total and complete waste of money,” Chris Waltz said. “You’re talking about $250,000 a year for maintenance; they are not doing maintenance now. What makes you think they’re going to do it then?”
Waltz also cited frequency drift as a concern due to his suggestive proximity of the tower locations to each other.
The project is expected to be completed in Oct. 2027, Hill said. More information about NRV911 can be found at www.nrv911.org.
