COLUMBIANA COUNTY Officials discuss extra cost for improved 911 system

Comments were largely supportive during a public hearing on the proposal.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- If voters decide to put a 50-cent monthly surcharge on their telephone bills to pay for an improved 911 system in Columbiana County, they will actually end up forking over more than that.
Before a public hearing held Wednesday to discuss putting the surcharge on the November general election ballot, county commissioners said the surcharge itself would be 50 cents. But phone companies will tack onto that charge anywhere from 12 cents to 32 cents per month.
The added amount, which varies depending on the company, is stipulated by state regulations and is to pay for phone companies' equipment costs associated with providing 911.
SBC customers will pay 12 cents more monthly than the 50-cent surcharge. Verizon customers will pay 24 cents more and Sprint customers will pay 32 cents more.
The phone company fees won't be added until a new 911 system is operational, which likely would not to be until 2005, even if voters approve a surcharge this fall, Commissioner Gary Williams said.
The added cost of the phone company fees is unlikely to prompt people to vote against the surcharge, Williams said.
"It's a small price to pay when you look at the total phone bill," he added.
Raising funds
The 50-cent surcharge, which would take effect in April, would raise about $280,000 annually to pay to operate a new system.
The phone companies would receive about 3 percent of that amount to help reimburse them for the administrative costs associated with a 911 system, Williams explained.
Wednesday was the first of two public hearings on the 911 surcharge. The second is set for 10 a.m. Aug. 6.
Comments at Wednesday's hearing, attended by about 16 people, were largely favorable.
"You get so much for so little," said Charles Alberti of Guilford Lake.
"This is something that definitely needs to happen," said Frank Zamarelli, Salem Area Chamber of Commerce president.
Some attending the meeting wondered how the new 911 system would be organized.
Commissioners said those plans are still being prepared and are expected to be finished by late August.
Besides the 50-cent surcharge, the county would have available about $400,000 from a settlement between the state and Ameritech over a service dispute. That money would be used to buy equipment to set up the system.
To answer 911 calls, the new system would rely on dispatchers already working for local governments. No additional dispatchers should be necessary, Williams said.
The new system would instantly provide emergency dispatchers with the address from which a 911 call is being placed. The outdated 911 in place in the county does not provide that information.