10/23/12 Commissioners, 9-1-1 board want to see $.28 cell phone charge stay

  • By Nick Sabo
  • October 23, 2012
  • 355
                        
Elimination of a $.28 fee on cell phone bills would effectively dry up 9-1-1 funding, local authorities say. The fee, which is charged monthly on cell phone bills, is up for renewal Jan. 1. The funds generated by the fee goes to the local 9-1-1 provider in the area from which it is collected. State lawmakers have made overtures that they considering letting the fee expire. According to Holmes County Commissioner Ray Eyler, the fee was the topic of much discussion at a Oct. 18 meeting of the Eastern Ohio Development Association (EODA). “The consensus down there is it needs to be left in,” Elyer said. Otherwise, “the counties will have to pay for it.” A 9-1-1 committee has been formed recently to examine the viability of 9-1-1 if the cell phone fee alone is enough to meet needs Holmes County 9-1-1 board chairman Tom Vaughn said. The committee will also examine other funding sources and consider what will happen should the fee be allowed to expire. The committee’s report will be due in January, after the fate of the fee is decided. Holmes County 9-1-1 is funded through revenues left over from an expired sales tax that was collected for five years in the 1990s and the cell phone fee. Letting the fee expire would be a serious blow for 9-1-1 providers, Vaughn said. “It certainly would have a crippling effect on not just the county, but every county trying to keep technology current,” Vaughn said. “We’d certainly have to look at other revenue sources without it.” Vaughn said the fee pays for upgrades to 9-1-1 services. In the near future, these upgrades will include equipment to take 9-1-1 calls in the form of a text message. Technology “continues to advance” in the years since 9-1-1 was implemented, Vaughn said. The county is updating 9-1-1 with two new towers and new transmission equipment. 9-1-1 will get space on the new towers free, saving on rent that is currently paid on the tower system serving the county. Even with the savings, the money left over the sales tax will eventually run out, Vaughn said. If the cell phone fee also expires, “we will be in much more dire straits than currently”. The fee adds up to $3.36 per year, per billed customer.


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