Recently passed city resolutions endorsing the proposed countywide sales-tax Proposition 911 were reviewed by Phelps County commissioners during its Tuesday session.
The city councils of Rolla and St. James both passed the resolutions March 1, which endorsed a new funding mechanism for Emergency 911 dispatch services that will replace the landline tariff currently charged to county residents.
Commissioner Bud Dean, District 2, said the proposition was recommended by the E-911 Committee after it researched other funding options.
“Basically, we have three choices,” Dean said. “We can bill users (providers of emergency services), pass a sales tax or go out of business (end countywide 911 emergency-dispatch services).”
Agreeing with Dean, District 1 Commissioner Larry Stratman said, “We feel there’s a need for an alternate source of funding for E-911.”
Proposition 911, the Phelps County Emergency Dispatch Sales Tax, will be decided upon by voters on April 6 in the General Municipal Election.
The Rolla Resolution cited four reasons why the city endorsed the passage of Proposition 911 — dwindling funding, the exponential growth of call volume, a need for better technology and to replace the 15-percent telephone landline surcharge.
The E-911 Committee, formed last year and headed by Doolittle Mayor Paul Smith, confirmed the present method of funding countywide emergency-dispatch services, a surcharge added to every county resident’s monthly landline bill, was decreasing at an alarming rate and would not continue to support the Central Communication Center.
After investigating alternate sources of funding, including implementing a cell-phone fee or asking emergency responders to pay the shortages, based upon the number of incidents directed by the Communications Center to each law-enforcement, fire or ambulance provider during the previous year, the committee recommended rescinding the landline surcharge and funding emergency dispatch services entirely by a sales-tax increase.
