Indiana 911 directors are concerned about the decrease in funding for the emergency dispatch service as an increasing number of people cancel their landlines in favor of cellular telephones.
Kosciusko County 911 Director Tom Brindle serves on a board formed June 18 by 911 directors from all over the state to explore solutions to the shortfall. Brindle said his department's annual budget is about $1.2 million. The county collects $1 from every landline and 34 cents from every cell phone in the county. This year, the county collected about $600,000 in landline fees and less than $200,000 in fees from cell phones.
County Auditor Sue Ann Mitchell and the Kosciusko County Council discussed the problem at a June 14 meeting. Mitchell told the council that the county is losing 911 fees from landline phones at a rate of 8 percent each year. At the meeting, the council discussed raising the current $1 landline fee to $2.59 -the maximum allowed- to address the funding problem. If enacted, the rate increase would be the first since the fee was implemented in the mid-1980s. Mitchell said the fee would amount to $19 per year for each landline. The rate hasn't been raised since it was implemented in the mid 1980s.
Tuesday, Brindle told the Kosciusko County Commissioners the 911 funding board is looking for suggestions from local government to find funding for the service. One option Brindle said the board is currently researching is a communication tax. Brindle said other states have enacted a tax on all communication systems which allows them to raise the funds necessary to fund their 911 dispatch. Brindle said he is hesitant to consider another tax, but he said a solution has to be found. "We've got to find something," he said, "especially in this county because we're a resort area."
Brindle said, though the funding crisis is a statewide problem, Kosciusko County loses more than other counties because seasonal visitors who, in years past, paid landline fees for service during stays at lakehouses and cabins, now, simply bring their cell phones from other counties and other states instead of using a local landline.
