The Johnson County Joint Emergency Communication Center has proposed a budget that will be $1 million dollars than that of the last fiscal year, Johnson County Supervisor Rod Sullivan said.

In fiscal 2011, the center’s operating budget was approximately $2.3 million, but for fiscal 2012, the group proposed a budget of $3.3 million.

The increase is expected to raise tax-levy rates for county residents.

Under the $3.3 million budget, tax levies could be raised as high as 84 cents.

Sullivan said he was not at the meeting but was told no members of the public attended.

He said 77 cents per $1,000 valuation on regular property —the levy two years ago— has worked in the past, and he hoped the proposed budget would not exceed that.

"I’m disappointed that they would think that a $1 million increase right now is the way to go," Sullivan said. "I think it’s a very bad time to ask for that kind of money. From the very beginning, I’ve been saying they need to do things differently and much more inexpensively, and they have not done that, and they are apparently still not doing that, and it’s a concern."

— by Hayley Bruce