Jefferson County 911 Dispatch is asking voters during the April 2 election to maintain a 1/2-cent sales tax collected in the county to fund the agency, rather than allowing the sales tax to drop to 1/4 cent, as was called for when voters originally approved the tax.
Prop 9-1-1 requires a simple majority to pass. 911 Dispatch provides dispatching services and/or use of its telecommunications equipment to every emergency response agency in the county except the Festus and Pevely police departments.
The agency dispatches for 31 of the 36 emergency agencies in the county; some of its clients do their own dispatching, but use the 911 Dispatch telecommunications system, including its network of tall telecommunications towers.
Voters approved the sales tax for 911 Dispatch in 2009, but that measure included a sunset clause mandating that the sales tax drop to 1/4 cent after 10 years. According to that clause, the reduction in the sales tax would take effect Oct. 1, unless voters approve the April 2 ballot measure.
The 1/2-cent tax is collected across the county, except in Festus, Pevely and Herculaneum, where voters did not adopt 911 when the agency was created in 1993. The sales tax measure will not appear on ballots in those entities, although Herculaneum is now a 911 client.
The agency brings in about $8.4 million from its 1/2-cent sales tax, and would see that amount cut in half to about $4.2 million if the measure is not approved. 911’s budget for the current year is $9.9 million.
911 Dispatch Chief Travis Williams said his agency needs the full 1/2-cent sales tax to keep up with growth in the county, as well as with system maintenance and upgrades.
“We’re a very large county (population about 225,000),” he said. “Our plan going forward is to ask the voters to continue with our current level of funding so 911 Dispatch can provide the technology upgrades for our first responder partners. That entails mobile data terminals in the cars, the trucks and the ambulances so we can send information to them.”
He said his agency has experienced a 24 percent increase in call volume over the last five years. Numbers show an even more dramatic jump in computer-aided dispatch (which includes calls into the system and computer-assisted calls out to dispatch agencies). That number is a 61.5 percent increase in the last five years – from 116,522 calls handled in 2014 to 188,136 in 2018.
Williams said that increase reflects both population growth and the addition of several agencies under 911’s umbrella.
If the vote goes against the ballot measure, 911 Dispatch will not be able to provide important technology upgrades, Williams said in a written statement.
Currently, 911 Dispatch pays for radio equipment, handheld and in vehicles, for first responders in its member agencies.
“It is the goal of the board to provide updated radios to our first responders for years to come, along with updating our Computer Aided Dispatch Systems and advancing the technology of Mobile Data Terminals in the field,” he said. “This MDT technology would allow dispatchers to see the location of emergency first responders in real time, and send the closest appropriate unit to an emergency.
“This is technology that is already being used in many places throughout the state. Without the support of the citizens, this type of technology could never become a reality for the Jefferson County emergency agencies to respond to their calls for help.”
The technology upgrades would improve response time to emergencies and allow for enhancement to the current warning and emergency notification system, according to 911 Dispatch.
He said passage of the measure would also allow the agency to hire and retain additional dispatchers.
State Sen. Paul Wieland (R-Imperial) has criticized 911 Dispatch leaders for placing the measure on the ballot, calling it an “illegal ballot request proposal.” His criticisms, as well as 911 Dispatch leader responses, were presented in a Leader March 21 story, and a column in the Editorial section of today’s paper addresses the controversy.
The 911 Dispatch board members voted 6-1 through an internet vote on Jan. 7 to put the measure on the ballot, later ratifying the internet vote at their regular meeting on Jan. 17. The only board member voting against was David Kennedy, who said he believes the agency will have sufficient funding even when its sales tax drops to 1/4 cent and, “if the picture changes,” agency officials could seek a sales tax increase in the future.
911 Dispatch made several pledges in its campaign to win approval of the 1/2-cent tax: elimination of a monthly surcharge on residents’ landlines; elimination of dispatching fees to participating agencies; creation of a reverse-911 system; construction of a backup center; and construction of a $30 million communications upgrade, including 18 towers and modern radio equipment for first responders at member agencies.
Williams said those changes and upgrades were accomplished, with the last bill about to be paid for the tower project.