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|  | Cin & Ham Co 911 merger?
« Thread Started on Oct 25, 2009, 4:49pm » | |
Cincinnati.Com » Government
Last Updated: 4:40 pm | Sunday, October 25, 2009
Merging 911s may save money
By Jessica Brown • jlbrown@enquirer.com • October 25, 2009
A government efficiency group thinks Cincinnati and Hamilton County could save up to $3 million annually by merging their 911 systems.
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The Government Cooperation and Efficiency Project will present its findings to Hamilton County Commissioners at the commissioners' staff meeting at 9:30 a.m. today, 138 E. Court S., downtown. They will also plan a meeting with Cincinnati officials.
The idea comes as governments, facing deep budget cuts, look toward merging services and streamlining operations to save money.
It's very complicated to merge, but we can't ignore an estimate to save that kind of money," said Commission President David Pepper who is on the committee studying the issue.
He plans to present a motion this week to take the next step: ordering an in-depth implementation study which would iron out all the technical details.
The idea of merging Hamilton County and Cincinnati's dispatch centers has been studied before, but never went anywhere
Cincinnati's Police and Fire departments both run their own dispatch centers. Hamilton County operates a regional communication center that, for a fee, dispatches for nearly all of the other county police and fire departments.
The 16-member Government Cooperation and Efficiency Project in July asked a consulting firm to "refresh" a 1995 study on the merger. That study found that Cincinnati could save $1.2 million annually, although Cincinnati disagreed with the finding.
Details of the study or how the consultants arrived at their findings were not available Friday.
The Government Cooperation and Efficiency Project, comprised of local politicians and business and civic leaders, was created to help communities improve services and reduce costs through consolidation.
The 911 system merger is among several ideas being studied by the group.
It is working with the cities of Woodlawn and Wyoming who are interested in merging their fire/EMS departments. It also is studying whether communities could share their heavy equipment, or unify the way they collect taxes and issue building permits.
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