Schuylkill County’s Emergency Management Agency has gotten a helping hand from Uncle Sam.

At a work session Wednesday, county commissioners approved a $77,859 Emergency Management Performance Grant.

The money, through the federal government for fiscal year 2021, pays for the salaries and benefits of approved positions in the county Emergency Management Agency.

“The coordinator and deputy are the approved positions within Schuylkill. It may vary by county, depending on how many approved positions they have,” county Emergency Management Coordinator John Matz said after the meeting.

In other matters, commissioners granted the request of Deborah Dasch of the county Tax Claim Bureau to approve 25 properties for repository sale.

They include a property at 536 Pine St., Tamaqua. Yazen Jaber, whose address was not immediately available, has offered $1,320 for it.

Repository sales are for properties that have been previously put up for sale due to unpaid taxes, but had no takers. Wednesday’s sales will put the properties back on the tax rolls.

“This is the ‘bargain basement’ of Tax Claim Bureau sales,” according to the bureau.

Also on Wednesday, county Financial Director Paul E. Buber presented budget adjustments of $1,281 for the Drug & Alcohol agency; $5,906 for the prison for 2021, and $365 for the prison for this year.

The adjustments are not budget increases, he said, but rather a transfer of funds among line items.