Nelson Fiscal Court discusses 911 funding, OKs request to fill part-time position

By JIM BROOKS
Nelson County Gazette/WBRT Radio

Tuesday, Nov. 17, 2015, 9 p.m. — At Tuesday’s Nelson Fiscal Court meeting, Judge-Executive Dean Watts told the magistrates of an new option county government has to provide a more equitable funding mechanism for the county’s 911 service.

Magistrate Jeff Lear, right, discusses the funding of the county’s 911 dispatch center while magistrate Jerry Hahn, right, looks on.

A recent Kentucky Supreme Court ruling upheld Campbell County’s move to replace its 911 landline feed with a 911 service fee assessed to all its residences and businesses. The move was challenged in court, but the state high court ruled in Campbell County’s favor.

The decision means that counties with 911 dispatch centers can take action to better fund the service.

Nelson County’s 911 service receives funds generated by landline and cell phone 911 fees. The landline fee is $1.71 per month; cell phone users are assessed a 70 cents per month fee.

The problem is that in recent years, the number of landlines has dropped significantly as people replaced landline phones with cell phones. This trend also means that the landline fees that fund 911 services have dropped as well.

In 2012, the 911 landline fee in Nelson County generated $295,000; the next year, the that revenue dropped $100,000. This fiscal year, the landline fee will generate approximately $150,000.

The Nelson County 911 system is funded by these 911 fees and with contributions from the City of Bardstown and county government. With the drop in 911 fees, it takes, taxpayer money from both governments to make up the shortfall, Watts said.

“It’s unbalanced as to who actually funds the 911 service,” he said. “Somewhere along the line, be it this fiscal court, the current city council or the next generation, someone’s going to have to deal with this issue.”

Judge-Executive Dean Watts tells the magistrates the job duties for the new part-time employee he requested they approve.

Watts said he wasn’t proposing the court establish a 911 fee, but wanted the court and public to be aware of the fee as an option for funding the county’s 911 service.

The problem with the funds provided by cell phone fees is that the money collected from Nelson County cell users doesn’t stay in the county, Magistrate Jeff Lear explained. The money is pooled by the state and then divided among the counties with qualifying dispatch centers.

Dispatch centers must meet an array of technical requirements in order to qualify to receive a share of the cell phone funding. These requirements include the ability to properly locate cell phone users who dial 911, and to have accurate street addresses throughout the county.

The addressing requirement is why private roads are being named, and some existing addresses are being changed, Lear said.

If a fee is ever created, Watts said his intent would be to replace the county’s existing landline fee.

COUNTY JOB POSITION REINSTATED. The court approved a request from Watts to reinstate a part-time position that will serve both the county code enforcement office and occupational tax collection.

The three-day a week employee will be paid $15 an hour, with 75 percent of his or her duties spent on occupational tax duties, with the rest of their time working with the code enforcement office.

Watts said that the county is unable to do a good job of tracking workers who come into the county on temporary work assignments. The part-time employee would help identify companies and individuals who are working on jobs temporarily in Nelson County, and prevent the loss of occupational tax revenue.

“We’re not able to find those contractors who bring 20 people in town for a construction job for six months,” Watts said. “We had two full-time people in that job not too long ago.”

Magistrate Keith Metcalfe cast the sole “nay” vote, saying he would like to see figures to show the position was warranted.

HOLIDAY GARBAGE PICKUP. The Thanksgiving holiday will delay county garbage pickup by one day. Collection crews will work the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving to collect Thursday and Friday’s routes. Landfill manager Brad Spalding asked county residents to get their garbage out early as some routes will be run earlier than usual.

In other business, the court —

— announced that Paul Donahue will be promoted to the working supervisor position to replace Jerry Newton, who is retiring in December.

— approved a grant to provide funding to replace a culvert on Woodlawn Road near Hilton Lane;

— heard that county Road Engineer Jim Lemieux will prepare a landfill truck to serve as a backup for the county’s snow removal efforts. The truck will need new tires and lights. The county has salt distribution equipment and a snow plow to use with the truck.

— approved an update to its personnel policies related to the Family Medical Leave Act;

— was told that Deputy Jailer Doug Karr is retiring. Jailer Dorcas Figg said she has hired Justin David Hall to replace Karr.

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