Green: City, county ‘still very far apart’ on 911 dispatch agreement

NC GAZETTE / WBRT RADIO
STAFF REPORT

Tuesday, Aug. 9, 2016, 11:55 a.m. (Edited to add Judge Executive’s response, 1:30 p.m.) — In advance of this evening’s Bardstown City Council meeting, Mayor John Royalty has released to the media an update on the city’s negotiations with Nelson Fiscal Court in regard to E-911.

• Click here to read Green’s letter regarding 911 dispatching (pdf file, new window will open)

Royalty, Judge Executive Dean Watts and the city and county attorney met Friday, Aug. 5 to discuss the 911 agreement and the two sides’ draft proposals.

According to the memorandum authored by Assistant City Administrator Larry Green, Friday’s negotiations ended with “the City and County still very far apart.”

• Click here to read City Attorney Tim Butler’s draft 911 agreement (pdf file, new window will open)

In the proposal authored by City Attorney Tim Butler, the city asked:

— to have more control over the dispatch board;
— to take the 911 fee placed on city property tax bills and apply it to the city’s share of dispatch costs;
— that the city would pay only an additional $22,800 on top of the property tax 911 fee as its total share of dispatch costs. This figure was calculated by subtracting the anticipated city 911 fee revenues of $134,400 from the KSP’s April 2016 quote of $157,200 to dispatch city police and fire.

The city and county currently share the costs of the dispatch operation not paid for by 911 funds, and they share those costs 60/40, with the county paying 60 percent and city responsible for the remainder.

The city’s 2016-17 budget allocates $64,800 of dispatch costs to the fire department, and $151,300 to the police department for a total of $216,100.

The city’s proposed agreement would cut the city’s financial 911 contribution from $216,100 down to $22,800. The city justifies this by giving itself credit for its share of the 911 fee Nelson Fiscal Court recently agreed to move from landline phone bills to property tax bills.

The move on the city’s part represents a substantial change from how the two governments have split dispatch costs.

Up until now, the 911 landline and cellphone fees were paid to 911 dispatch. The remaining dispatch costs not covered by the fees was then split 60/40 between county and city governments. The city’s plan to count the city residents’ 911 fee as part of the city’s share of the 911 budget would mean county government would need to make up the difference — and pay more than the 60 percent share it now funds.

GREEN: COUNTY CAN SAVE TOO. Green notes that the county could save substantial money by moving to KSP for dispatching services as well.

Using the KSP’s April 2016 dispatch quote, Green extrapolated the county’s estimated KSP dispatch costs at $384,461 — less than half of the total amount ($792,000) the city and county are budgeted to contribute to cover dispatching costs not paid by 911 fees.

Figures Green states in the document do not appear to take into account the revenues that will be generated by $24 annual 911 fee on property tax bills beginning this year.

The document to the mayor and council also includes testimonials from several city and county officials detailing mostly positive experiences with KSP dispatching, with city and county officials uniformly praising the cost savings.

WATTS’ RESPONSE. In an email to the Nelson County Gazette Tuesday afternoon, Judge Executive Dean Watts said that after reviewing Green’s memo, it was clear he is making a case to the council to separate from its joint dispatch agreement with county government. He affirmed the county’s commitment to keeping dispatch a local-operated service.

“The bottom line is that Nelson County has made dispatching a priority and a service that is worth keeping local,’ Watts said in his email. “We are moving on and will leave room for the city if they want. Who is running city hall, Larry or John?”

NEXT UP. The Bardstown City Council meets tonight at 7 p.m. Though the agenda distributed to the media last Friday does not include a discussion of the 911 agreement, it may be added to the agenda at the start of tonight’s meeting.

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