Post by district5 on Sept 17, 2012 18:18:55 GMT -5
Uh-oh: Fees for phones rising?
County safety needs add up to $2.50 a month for each landline, cellphone
8:44 AM, September 16, 2012 communitypress.cincinnati.com
Written by Sharon Coolidge
Hamilton County needs a new emergency radio system at a possible price tag of $10 million – and county commissioners are considering a monthly phone fee to pay for it and other 911 services.
Under consideration: Adding between $1.50 to $2.50 a month for every landline and cellphone.
That’s between $36 and $60 a year if you have one of each. For a family of four with a landline and cellphone for each person, that’s as much as $150 a year.
The current radio system is obsolete, and vendor Motorola will no longer service it after 2014. Parts will be difficult to come by.
At stake is the backbone of the public safety system – radio communications. Without a new radio system, dispatchers won’t know which police or fire unit is closest to the caller. That could delay response times and cost lives.
“It’s a concern,” said Paul Kindell, a communications expert for a local consortium overseeing homeland security and emergency response. “We obviously don’t want to see their system fail. We’re crossing our fingers, hoping they can get the funds to upgrade their system.”
Ohioans have been paying a small fee for emergency dispatch operations on their cellphone bills. But that fee expires in December.
That’s left counties searching for new ways to pay for dispatch operations. In Hamilton County’s case, officials are proposing a new phone fee that would bring in between $6.5 million to $10 million a year. It would pay for not just a new radio system, but all 911 center operations.
To get the new fee, county leaders need a change to state law. They need legislators to allow a “permissive fee,” meaning every county could set its own amount up to the state-imposed limit. County administrators are preparing to pitch the idea to state lawmakers.
The plan would also give the city of Cincinnati the power to impose a similar fee.
County leaders are turning to Republican State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, dean of the Hamilton County delegation, to help them get the fee approved.
Seitz told The Enquirer such a fee is “appropriate,” although he couldn’t guarantee he can convince his fellow Republicans, who control the General Assembly.
“What folks need to realize is that at some point, whether you are liberal or conservative, the government needs funds to provide essential services,” Seitz said. “I think most Hamilton County and Cincinnati residents would say 911 has moved into the category of an essential service.
“It would be a bad thing if one day the 911 system didn’t work,” Seitz said.
The city is considering the permissive fee, but also looking at state and federal grants to help pay for system upgrades, said city spokeswoman Meg Olberding.
“Because we share certain elements of the system, they have to be upgraded together,” Olberding said. “This is mission critical.”
Ohio has a 28-cent monthly fee on cellphones, but that fee expires at the end of the year. It was used to help upgrade systems so emergency workers could locate the origin of cellphone calls.
“The numbers 9-1-1 have become part of our culture and a standard of care that directly reflects a community’s quality of life for its citizens,” said Assistant Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto.
The fee will go toward more than just the radio system, Aluotto said. It will cover all operation and capital costs associated with Hamilton County emergency communication services.
Ohio wouldn’t be the first place such a fee was imposed. The five states surrounding Ohio already have permissive fees for emergency services. Indiana counties can charge up to 90 cents a month per landline and wireless phone; Kentucky’s landline fee is between 36 cents and $4.50 a month; its wireless fee 70 cents month.
In nearby Kenton County, the fee is $2.76 a month per landline; in Campbell County it’s $3.
New systems, like the kind Hamilton County would install, are compatible with smart phone technology. Systems can get texts and video, both crucial when victims don’t want or can’t be heard, said Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association, a professional group that focuses on best practices for 911 centers.
Paying for it always is the challenge, but a necessity, Fontes said.
“If you’re going to have a public safety communication system, you have to pay for it,” Fontes said. “It doesn’t materialize without an investment.”
State and federal governments typically provide some help, but communities commonly rely on phone fees to pay for systems, he said. “It would not be unusual for Ohio to do this,” Fontes said.
The City of Cincinnati also needs a new radio system. A joint county/city study – which cost $80,000 – is under way to determine how long the system could last as is, and what system would be best for the county and city, said Shawn Cruze, Hamilton County’s technical services manager.
The replacement needs to be done and needs to be done “soon,” Cruze said. “I don’t know how long we could keep it going,” he added.
The need comes at a time when Hamilton County is facing a $20 million shortfall in its 2012 budget; the City of Cincinnati is facing a $30 million deficit next year.
Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Greg Hartmann supports the fee, which he was careful to call a “user fee” as opposed to a tax.
“It’s a creative approach to fund a critical public safety centerpiece,” said the Republican, who is up for re-election. “Without effective 911 service, there is no public safety.”
And, he said, there’s no other money to pay for it, a thought echoed by fellow commissioner Todd Portune, a Democrat also up for re-election.
He and Republican Commissioner Chris Monzel said they haven’t made a decision on whether to support the fee.
“We still have some more work to do on it, but I don’t know any other answer,” Portune said.
Tech provider to county: No more service
The 9-year-old radio systems Hamilton County and City of Cincinnati dispatchers use to send police officers to crime scenes and firefighters to a burning buildings is obsolete. Motorola, the technology provider, has told the county that service and parts won’t be available after mid-year 2014.
“The architecture is no longer supported,” Kindell said. “It will require the replacement of almost the whole system.”
Other Southwest Ohio counties already have upgraded their radio systems. Butler County paid for it with a 21-month half-cent sales tax.
Warren County commissioners used general fund money.
Clermont County is the process of choosing a new system.
Hamilton County’s current 800 MHz radio system is almost 10 years old. It’s not compatible with newer systems in surrounding counties.
Right now Hamilton County runs its communications center with a combination of general fund money, the small monthly cellphone bill and with help from communities that use it. Every time a police officer, firefighter or paramedic is sent to an emergency, that community pays $18.30 to the county.
That latter is the primary funding source, bringing in a little more than half of the $9.7 million needed every year to run the communications center.
If the fee is added, communities will no longer be asked to pay into the system or at least be charged less, Aluotto said.
Last year the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office paid $800,000 in dispatch fees; Springfield Township, almost $339,000.
“That money comes out of the police fund,” Springfield Township Trustee Tom Bryan said. “If we didn’t have to pay that we could spend it on major needs like vehicles.” Bryan, a Republican, is seeking the state House seat now held by State Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Bond Hill.
It will also preserve police levy dollars, he said.
Aluotto said forcing communities to fund the center:
• Forces local governments to pay the county with money that could be used to add firefighters or policeman or buy equipment for emergency workers.
• Gives communities an incentive to create their own communication systems “on the cheap.” Numerous local government leaders have told the county that they may stop using county dispatch services – even though they know doing so “could be detrimental to public safety,” Aluotto said. For instance, some communities have suggested they would ask people to use alternative numbers in certain types of emergencies so they didn’t have to pay the dispatch cost.
“The prospect of the proven shared services arrangement unraveling in Hamilton County is a real danger, given these developments,” Aluotto said.
“This threat can be mitigated – or avoided altogether” with the new funding model, he added.
What’s being proposed is in line with how other communities pay for emergency services. The majority of states use a combination of fees on landlines and cellphones, according to the National Emergency Number Association.
And what if the idea of a permissive fee is nixed?
Then the cost will have to be absorbed by the township, villages, and cities whose budgets are already stretched thin with the loss of the estate tax and state cuts to the local government fund.
“The county is sensitive to the budgetary and financial issues of the member communities, but if history is any judge, we will continue to look for the most prudent way to share costs through the detail rates,” Aluotto said. “It will also be balanced with what services we provide.”
“It’s all about balancing what services we provide with the dollars available to fund those services,” he added.
Without new software, the links between public service agencies will be severed.
The radio system allows communication between 911 call takers and radio dispatchers, police officers, detectives, parole and probation officers, firefighters, paramedics, hazardous materials response teams and missing person search crews.
Cruze said the call for help from a citizen to 911 is pointless if the dispatcher on the line has no way of relaying the information to responders – that’s also done over the radio system.
“The radio system is the backbone of the public safety net that emergency services provides,” Cruze said.
Every piece of information conveyed between field units and the dispatchers as well as from unit to unit is relayed through our radio system. Even the data that is sent to the computers in each fire truck and ambulance travels over the radio.
“You can have the best equipment and most well-trained responders, but if they're disconnected from the people they are there to protect, then they are useless,” he said.
County safety needs add up to $2.50 a month for each landline, cellphone
8:44 AM, September 16, 2012 communitypress.cincinnati.com
Written by Sharon Coolidge
Hamilton County needs a new emergency radio system at a possible price tag of $10 million – and county commissioners are considering a monthly phone fee to pay for it and other 911 services.
Under consideration: Adding between $1.50 to $2.50 a month for every landline and cellphone.
That’s between $36 and $60 a year if you have one of each. For a family of four with a landline and cellphone for each person, that’s as much as $150 a year.
The current radio system is obsolete, and vendor Motorola will no longer service it after 2014. Parts will be difficult to come by.
At stake is the backbone of the public safety system – radio communications. Without a new radio system, dispatchers won’t know which police or fire unit is closest to the caller. That could delay response times and cost lives.
“It’s a concern,” said Paul Kindell, a communications expert for a local consortium overseeing homeland security and emergency response. “We obviously don’t want to see their system fail. We’re crossing our fingers, hoping they can get the funds to upgrade their system.”
Ohioans have been paying a small fee for emergency dispatch operations on their cellphone bills. But that fee expires in December.
That’s left counties searching for new ways to pay for dispatch operations. In Hamilton County’s case, officials are proposing a new phone fee that would bring in between $6.5 million to $10 million a year. It would pay for not just a new radio system, but all 911 center operations.
To get the new fee, county leaders need a change to state law. They need legislators to allow a “permissive fee,” meaning every county could set its own amount up to the state-imposed limit. County administrators are preparing to pitch the idea to state lawmakers.
The plan would also give the city of Cincinnati the power to impose a similar fee.
County leaders are turning to Republican State Sen. Bill Seitz, R-Green Township, dean of the Hamilton County delegation, to help them get the fee approved.
Seitz told The Enquirer such a fee is “appropriate,” although he couldn’t guarantee he can convince his fellow Republicans, who control the General Assembly.
“What folks need to realize is that at some point, whether you are liberal or conservative, the government needs funds to provide essential services,” Seitz said. “I think most Hamilton County and Cincinnati residents would say 911 has moved into the category of an essential service.
“It would be a bad thing if one day the 911 system didn’t work,” Seitz said.
The city is considering the permissive fee, but also looking at state and federal grants to help pay for system upgrades, said city spokeswoman Meg Olberding.
“Because we share certain elements of the system, they have to be upgraded together,” Olberding said. “This is mission critical.”
Ohio has a 28-cent monthly fee on cellphones, but that fee expires at the end of the year. It was used to help upgrade systems so emergency workers could locate the origin of cellphone calls.
“The numbers 9-1-1 have become part of our culture and a standard of care that directly reflects a community’s quality of life for its citizens,” said Assistant Hamilton County Administrator Jeff Aluotto.
The fee will go toward more than just the radio system, Aluotto said. It will cover all operation and capital costs associated with Hamilton County emergency communication services.
Ohio wouldn’t be the first place such a fee was imposed. The five states surrounding Ohio already have permissive fees for emergency services. Indiana counties can charge up to 90 cents a month per landline and wireless phone; Kentucky’s landline fee is between 36 cents and $4.50 a month; its wireless fee 70 cents month.
In nearby Kenton County, the fee is $2.76 a month per landline; in Campbell County it’s $3.
New systems, like the kind Hamilton County would install, are compatible with smart phone technology. Systems can get texts and video, both crucial when victims don’t want or can’t be heard, said Brian Fontes, CEO of the National Emergency Number Association, a professional group that focuses on best practices for 911 centers.
Paying for it always is the challenge, but a necessity, Fontes said.
“If you’re going to have a public safety communication system, you have to pay for it,” Fontes said. “It doesn’t materialize without an investment.”
State and federal governments typically provide some help, but communities commonly rely on phone fees to pay for systems, he said. “It would not be unusual for Ohio to do this,” Fontes said.
The City of Cincinnati also needs a new radio system. A joint county/city study – which cost $80,000 – is under way to determine how long the system could last as is, and what system would be best for the county and city, said Shawn Cruze, Hamilton County’s technical services manager.
The replacement needs to be done and needs to be done “soon,” Cruze said. “I don’t know how long we could keep it going,” he added.
The need comes at a time when Hamilton County is facing a $20 million shortfall in its 2012 budget; the City of Cincinnati is facing a $30 million deficit next year.
Hamilton County Board of Commissioners President Greg Hartmann supports the fee, which he was careful to call a “user fee” as opposed to a tax.
“It’s a creative approach to fund a critical public safety centerpiece,” said the Republican, who is up for re-election. “Without effective 911 service, there is no public safety.”
And, he said, there’s no other money to pay for it, a thought echoed by fellow commissioner Todd Portune, a Democrat also up for re-election.
He and Republican Commissioner Chris Monzel said they haven’t made a decision on whether to support the fee.
“We still have some more work to do on it, but I don’t know any other answer,” Portune said.
Tech provider to county: No more service
The 9-year-old radio systems Hamilton County and City of Cincinnati dispatchers use to send police officers to crime scenes and firefighters to a burning buildings is obsolete. Motorola, the technology provider, has told the county that service and parts won’t be available after mid-year 2014.
“The architecture is no longer supported,” Kindell said. “It will require the replacement of almost the whole system.”
Other Southwest Ohio counties already have upgraded their radio systems. Butler County paid for it with a 21-month half-cent sales tax.
Warren County commissioners used general fund money.
Clermont County is the process of choosing a new system.
Hamilton County’s current 800 MHz radio system is almost 10 years old. It’s not compatible with newer systems in surrounding counties.
Right now Hamilton County runs its communications center with a combination of general fund money, the small monthly cellphone bill and with help from communities that use it. Every time a police officer, firefighter or paramedic is sent to an emergency, that community pays $18.30 to the county.
That latter is the primary funding source, bringing in a little more than half of the $9.7 million needed every year to run the communications center.
If the fee is added, communities will no longer be asked to pay into the system or at least be charged less, Aluotto said.
Last year the Hamilton County Sheriff’s office paid $800,000 in dispatch fees; Springfield Township, almost $339,000.
“That money comes out of the police fund,” Springfield Township Trustee Tom Bryan said. “If we didn’t have to pay that we could spend it on major needs like vehicles.” Bryan, a Republican, is seeking the state House seat now held by State Rep. Alicia Reece, D-Bond Hill.
It will also preserve police levy dollars, he said.
Aluotto said forcing communities to fund the center:
• Forces local governments to pay the county with money that could be used to add firefighters or policeman or buy equipment for emergency workers.
• Gives communities an incentive to create their own communication systems “on the cheap.” Numerous local government leaders have told the county that they may stop using county dispatch services – even though they know doing so “could be detrimental to public safety,” Aluotto said. For instance, some communities have suggested they would ask people to use alternative numbers in certain types of emergencies so they didn’t have to pay the dispatch cost.
“The prospect of the proven shared services arrangement unraveling in Hamilton County is a real danger, given these developments,” Aluotto said.
“This threat can be mitigated – or avoided altogether” with the new funding model, he added.
What’s being proposed is in line with how other communities pay for emergency services. The majority of states use a combination of fees on landlines and cellphones, according to the National Emergency Number Association.
And what if the idea of a permissive fee is nixed?
Then the cost will have to be absorbed by the township, villages, and cities whose budgets are already stretched thin with the loss of the estate tax and state cuts to the local government fund.
“The county is sensitive to the budgetary and financial issues of the member communities, but if history is any judge, we will continue to look for the most prudent way to share costs through the detail rates,” Aluotto said. “It will also be balanced with what services we provide.”
“It’s all about balancing what services we provide with the dollars available to fund those services,” he added.
Without new software, the links between public service agencies will be severed.
The radio system allows communication between 911 call takers and radio dispatchers, police officers, detectives, parole and probation officers, firefighters, paramedics, hazardous materials response teams and missing person search crews.
Cruze said the call for help from a citizen to 911 is pointless if the dispatcher on the line has no way of relaying the information to responders – that’s also done over the radio system.
“The radio system is the backbone of the public safety net that emergency services provides,” Cruze said.
Every piece of information conveyed between field units and the dispatchers as well as from unit to unit is relayed through our radio system. Even the data that is sent to the computers in each fire truck and ambulance travels over the radio.
“You can have the best equipment and most well-trained responders, but if they're disconnected from the people they are there to protect, then they are useless,” he said.