Starke County Indiana Democratic Party

New phone system for Starke County to include Annex, Courthouse, Sheriff’s Department, Prosecutors Office and Highway Department was approved Monday night October 19, 2009 and is waiting for in installation which should be within the next 6 weeks.

The system is predicted to save the county approximately $2,000 per month on their current phone bill or approximately $120,000 over a 5 year period.

The cost $81,476 will be paid from a loan secured from Demotte State Bank in Knox in 4 annual installments at the rate of 3.9% with no fees for the loan.

The Starke County Council opted to borrow the money to keep cash in the Cumulative Capital Fund for emergency and building maintenance cost.

Council and Commissioners are looking into a new phone system for Annex, Courthouse, Sheriff Department and Highway Garage. This system cost is $85,000 for all 4 building, both boards are interested in keeping all offices uniform for future use, service and updating

The new system should reduce the monthly phone bill by approximately $2,000 by upgrading and switching over to Digital opposed to the current analog system.

The monthly cost for the new system should be approximately $1,770 assuming the company that the county is in negotiations finances the new phone system at 0% interest for 48 months as they have indicated they would.