COLUMBIANA COUNTY Voters will get chance to answer call for a 911 system surcharge

The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce will campaign for the issue's passage.
By NORMAN LEIGH
VINDICATOR SALEM BUREAU
LISBON -- The public will get an opportunity to comment on a proposal to put a 50-cent surcharge on monthly phone bills to pay for operating a modernized 911 system in Columbiana County.
Commissioners agreed Wednesday to set hearings for 10 a.m. July 30 and Aug. 6 in the commissioners meeting room at the courthouse.
The hearings are a formality required by state law before the 50-cent surcharge can be put on the November general election ballot.
The surcharge on residential and commercial phone lines would raise about $280,000 annually to pay for operating a 911 system.
The county needs updated 911, which allows emergency officials to instantly detect the address where a 911 call is being placed, commissioners said.
Right now, 911 calls can be made in the county, but without modern equipment, the address data aren't available.
'Image issue'
Commissioners noted that the county is one of about a half-dozen in Ohio without modern 911.
Besides hampering emergency response efforts, the absence of modern 911 also makes the county appear backward, commissioners said. "It becomes an image issue," said Commissioner Jim Hoppel.
Commissioners noted that the county has about $400,000 available to pay for buying start-up equipment for a 911 system.
The money is from a settlement Ameritech made with the Public Utilities Commission of Ohio over a service dispute.
Chamber campaign
The Salem Area Chamber of Commerce will campaign for the surcharge's passage, John Tolson, owner of Tolson Comfort Systems, Salem, and a chamber board member, told commissioners.
Tolson, who also is a member of a 911 technical committee, said the county urgently needs a modernized system to improve public safety.
A detailed plan for configuring the system has yet to be completed. But officials said plan details aren't necessary to put the surcharge measure on the ballot.