Webster County EMA flags shrinking federal grants, budgets modest raises and $25,000 disaster fund

Dylan Hagen, who identified himself as representing the Emergency Management Agency for disaster services, told Webster County officials the agency’s proposed budget removes reliance on shrinking federal grant revenue and includes modest equipment and training requests.

Hagen said the Emergency Management Performance Grant — historically used to cover roughly half of EMA salary and benefits — has dwindled and, he added, some of the grant funds are currently tied up in federal court cases. “We need to remove that grant out of the budget and not rely on grant funding for part of my budget,” Hagen said, describing a $19,500 decrease compared with prior years.

The budget document also lists a levied EMA funding amount for county and cities of about $139,207 and a $21,500 pass-through for outdoor warning sirens that both city and county fund, Hagen said. He said EMA dues were sent to members and that county EMA dues were estimated at $79,200.50 pending one vendor valuation confirmation.

On the expense side, Hagen said the EMA submitted a 2% salary increase assumption because the countywide decision on raises had not been finalized and his budget must be filed before the end of February. “We weren’t sure what the county was gonna be going with with this year, and my budget has to be approved before the February,” he said.

Hagen walked through other line items: $2,000 for office supplies and Adobe Pro, $500 for clothing and uniforms, $2,000 for conference training, and a $2,000 Salamander accountability-system renewal. He described Salamander as a rapid-tag system that scans a driver’s license to issue ID cards, assign roles, and track volunteer hours to support FEMA reimbursement claims, and urged broader county participation to improve tracking across departments.

Hagen said the hazard mitigation plan update has no current line-item expense because a federal shutdown and pending grant approval have delayed the work. He estimated the contractor cost at about $40,000 and said the grant would reimburse roughly 75% of that expense, meaning the county will likely need to amend the budget once contractors begin work.

Small capital and maintenance requests included $3,000 for drone batteries and maintenance, $1,500 toward a 20-year-old mobile breathing-air trailer used to refill SCBA tanks, printer-lease and Toughbook replacements for staff, and routine insurance and vehicle maintenance. Hagen said the board added a $25,000 disaster-relief line item last year so the county can immediately spend up to that amount from carryover funds to respond to emergencies without destabilizing the operating budget.

The meeting’s presiding official pressed for consistency in raise assumptions across departments, noting other department heads were asked to submit budgets with 0% raises. “I just struggle when I’m telling all these other department heads that… we really are trying to watch our budgets, and then I’m gonna… pick and choose where we do raises,” the presiding official said, urging that EMA and other departments align until county figures are resolved. Participants discussed that printed workbooks had been prepared with 0% across the board and whether a different assumption would affect the Department of Management filing.

There were no formal motions or votes recorded in the transcript of this hearing. The EMA indicated it will await confirmation on a vendor valuation and may amend the budget later to account for the hazard mitigation plan and radio-loan repayment.