Crime & Safety
Township to Ask County for Grant to Purchase Radios
Bensalem needs to purchase hundreds of new radios and it's going to cost more than $2 million so township council is asking the county for help.
At its Monday evening meeting, Bensalem Township Council decided to ask Bucks County for a grant to pay for new emergency communication radios.
The whole county is getting a new $25 million communications system and all its municipalities will need to upgrade their radios.
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Bensalem will need about 310 portable radios and 150 mobile units for its police, fire and rescue crews. The cost: about $2.6 million. They plan to seek an award from the county Municipal Grant Program, which is funded by taxes collected from Parx Casino.
Last year, Bensalem joined with several other local municipalities in a joint Municipal Grant Program request. They were awarded $750,000.
Find out what's happening in Bensalemwith free, real-time updates from Patch.
This year, the township is submitting an individual grant application.
Mayor Joseph DiGirolamo explained that the county requested the municipalities ask for grants individually, not as a group. He said this request suggests the county is going to pick and choose which towns to assist.
“If we don’t get those grants, we need to buy the radios,” the mayor said. “It’s over $2 million.”
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