| 2/4/2006 9:48:00 AM | Email this article • Print this article | County may increase fee for 911 service
Donovan Estridge
Courier Staff Writer
A proposal to raise 911 rates was tabled Friday morning by the Jefferson County Commissioners.
Jefferson County 911 Coordinator Randy Warner presented commissioners with a plan to raise the rates. The current rate is $1.28 a month per phone line. Warner would like to see an increase to $1.50 per line. The charge is included in telephone bills.
“That would put us at the same rate as Clay, Decatur, Jackson, Pike, Sullivan and Ripley counties,” Warner said. “That would be pretty much be the median for the state.”
Warner credits the need to raise the rates to the growing popularity of cellular phones which are under a different rate structure controlled by the state.
Another reason for the increase, according to Warner, is the contract with Verizon for maintenance on the phone lines will increase by nearly $500 a month in March. The county will pay $5,666.94 a month after the increase.
With cellular phone use increasing, more people are dropping the traditional land-line telephones and going to the mobile cellular phone.
The county can implement a surcharge to all land-line telephones. Cellular phones, however, do not fall in this category. The amount charged for 911 rates on cellular phones is mandated by the state. Recently the state decreased the rates for the county to receive to no more than 50 cents per cellular line.
The increase in rates, according to Warner, is inevitable.
“We are one of the last counties to raise rates,” Warner said. “We are several years behind the times.”
Warner showed a chart outlining rates throughout the state. Rates range from as high as $2.49 in Adams County near Fort Wayne, and as low as 27 cents per line in Floyd County.
Not everyone in the county government was happy to hear of a rate increase. Jefferson County Council President Joe Craig questioned the need to raise rates.
“You can provide salaries for dispatchers,” Craig said. “I am playing devil’s advocate, but to me you have enough money.”
Despite Craig’s feelings, he did say council would probably support a raise in rates.
Commissioner Gregg Sinders was not as sympathetic to raising rates. He publicly questioned the 911 communications department’s economic efficiency.
“I don’t know why we have three dispatch centers in this county,” Sinders said. “What is so special about Jefferson County?”
Sinders was referring to the county’s three dispatch centers in Madison. Currently the county’s 911 program has three areas; one area dispatches to the county, the second is the city and the third is King’s Daughters’ Hospital.
“We are working on establishing a central dispatch,” Commissioner President Mike Frazier said.
Commissioners did not make a decision on raising the rates due to a question as to who would be responsible.
“We don’t know who would be responsible for raising rates,” Commissioner Julie Berry said. “Is it county council or us?”
Commissioners will consul with County Attorney Nancy Jacobs to determine who would be responsible for raising the rates.
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