Officials balked at the cost for installing a siren warning system and the potential for sirens to blare in the middle of the night and wake up

In the last nine years, federal funding for a system has been denied to the county as it contends with a tax base hostile to government overspending.

KERR COUNTY, Texas — Kerr County leaders debated the issue of installing emergency sirens along the Guadalupe River nearly a decade ago, but one former official said there was pushback from some residents.