The Carbon County Council of Governments will be making its first equipment purchase thanks to a $100,000 grant.

State Sen. John Yudichak recently announced that the Carbon councilwas a recipient of a Local Share Account grant for the purchase of an asphalt zipper or milling machine."State gaming grants are helping the Carbon County Council of Governments usher in a new era of government cooperation with the purchase of an asphalt zipper to be shared among the members," Yudichak said."Currently, 17 of Carbon County's 23 municipalities are working together to save money, increase efficiency and stretch every dollar to maintain important municipal services," he added.Kris Hoffner, president of the council, said that the group initially applied for $158,000 through the LSA grant, which would have also included the construction of a storage building on land owned by Carbon County near the prison and Emergency Management Agency in Nesquehoning.He said that the $100,000 will be able to purchase the asphalt zipper, which costs approximately $93,900, and the storage building will be constructed at a later time.Hoffner commended Yudichak for helping Carbon County start the COG because it serves a large number of people."The whole purpose is to help municipalities through a cooperative effort to save taxpayers money," he said. "It creates a stronger base when applying for grants and doing multimunicipality projects by sharing costs and resources to meet the needs of the communities and save money."The Carbon County COG has been growing since its inception in 2013, when Yudichak hosted a meeting about forming the group, which mimics a COG in Luzerne County.Since then, the COG has worked to serve as a common goal entity, consisting of municipalities, to better serve the people of the county.COGs can share services, equipment and manpower to save taxpayer money and work as a larger entity to try to obtain grants.