Dive suits, two-way radios, and a ramp entrance for the Le Mars Community Theatre are just a few of the 25 projects recommended for funding by the Plymouth County Local Option Sales Tax (LOST) board on Tuesday.

The awards, ranging from $655 to $50,000, will not be made final until the county supervisors decide whether or not to approve their recommendations during their May 8 regular meeting.

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The largest sum recommended is $50,00 for Le Mars Area Dialysis Services. They were asking for $200,000 to push forward the creation of a dialysis center in Le Mars.

The advisory board recommended the largest sum -- $25,000 -- for the Remsen Medical Clinic through Floyd Valley Hospital. They also suggested a $20,000 grant for Plains Area Mental Health for technology; $15,000 grants for both the Le Mars Community Theater for an entrance ramp and Le Mars Day Care for central air conditioning; a $14,360 grant for a boiler at St. Catherine School and a $13,485 for a computer lab at Gehlen Catholic High School.

A total of 49 groups applied for funds from the $275,000 LOST grant pool, seeking more than $915,000 in all.

The advisory board ranked applications through a scoring system, and this year the emphasis was public health and communications/technology.

Members of the LOST advisory board this year are Chairman Dennis Wolf, Larry Petersen, Dave Hawkins, Linda Popken, Patricia Vondrak, Mark Loutsch, Craig Arnold, Norine Harvey and Dave Dirks.

LOST is a one-percent sales tax passed by a county-wide vote in 2001 with a portion of the revenue planned to be used for the creation of the county Law Enforcement Center. Additional funds were designated for other county infrastructure and county improvements -- and not for property tax relief.

This year, the county supervisors increased the amount of LOST funds set aside for community grants from $100,000 to $275,000. The change came after the advisory board had expressed concern at the difficulty of picking from many applicants to be funded from a dwindling amount of money.