911 fee hike tops Pa. counties’ legislative agenda

Image caption:  911 call taker at her console in Lawrence County, Pa. Photo courtesy of Lawrence County, Pa.

Back in the pre-cellphone days of calling 911, an emergency dispatcher could expect to get two or three calls most likely from a pay phone of reports about a highway accident.

In today's always-connected world, multiply that by a factor of 10 maybe 50. Do the math and you'll appreciate how higher call volume places increasing demands on 911 systems, which can also equate to higher costs for counties.

"Landline revenue is declining tremendously, and the wireless fees have pretty much flat-lined," ac cording to Brian Melcer, Lawrence County, Pa. public safety director and president of the state's 911 number association.

As landline fee collections de crease, some local governments have had to pass along more 911 costs to taxpayers by using general fund dollars to make up the shortfall.

Pennsylvania's counties have been responsible for 911 call systems since 1990, funded by monthly subscriber line charges, currently $1 to $1.50 on landlines depending on county population, and $1 for cellphones, VoIP (voice over Inter net Protocol) and pre-paid wireless. Therein lies the rub.

The higher fees are on the old, declining technology while the lower charge is on the new, and those revenues are leveling off. At the same time, new technologies are in the offing and there's no formula to deal with them.

Nationwide, roughly 45 per cent of U.S. households are now wireless-only, according to Brian Fontes, president of the National Emergency Number Association. He added that "many 911 centers today are tethered to 1960, 1970 voice-only communication."

The National Council of State Legislatures reports that 911-fee-related bills 59 of them were being considered by 23 state legis latures this year.

In 2005, Pennsylvania counties covered an $18 million statewide shortfall in 911 fee collections. County deficits in 2014 totaled about $103 million, said Doug Hill, executive director of the County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania (CCAP). "So obvi ously our (counties') contribution has increased far beyond what the law ever envisioned. The law, tech nically, intended to pay the whole cost," he explained.

Pennsylvania counties have turned to the state Legislature for relief a rewrite of the state's Public Safety Emergency Telephone Act that would raise fees. CCAP would like to see the surcharge set at $2 per month across the board. But telecommunications industry officials, including the Broadband Cable Association of Pennsylvania and Verizon, have lobbied for a lower fee closer to $1.25.

The General Assembly is currently considering legislation, backed by the CCAP and emergency communications associations.

In Allegheny County (pop. 1.2 million), a regional 911 call center serves the needs of 130 munici palities, nearly 200 fire departments, more than 100 police departments and 51 EMS agencies, County Executive Rich Fitzgerald recently told the state's House Veteran's Af fairs and Emergency Preparedness Committee, which has jurisdiction over 911 funding.

Despite regionalization, he said, fees haven't kept pace with eligible system costs. This year, county taxpayers could have to backfill a $7.7 million deficit.

Inadequate 911 funding isn't unique to urban areas. In eastern Pennsylvania, Sullivan County has the same problem if on a smaller scale and with a twist. Its resident population is about 6,400, but being a vacation destination for campers, hikers and hunters, that number can increase threefold or fourfold between Memorial Day and deer-hunting season in December, ac cording to county Commissioner Robert Getz.

During the high season, he said, 50 percent to 60 percent of 911 calls are via cellphones. And while the county participates in a regional 911 system, last year it had to provide a $100,000 subsidy. "The only way we can raise money is to raise property taxes," Getz said.

Pennsylvania counties sought fee increases from the Legislature last year, but the bill languished in committee. However, the wireless fee, which was to sunset last June, was extended one year to June 30, 2015. It will expire if no action is taken.

Ultimately, counties want solu tions that are "technology agnostic," Melcer said, to cover future innova tions over the next decade or more.

"There are a lot of different voice-over-IP-type technologies, software-based phones, Wi-Fi phones that are coming out on the market," he said.

"Right now we really don't have a way to capture the funding, and there's really no standard as to how those calls get into our system so that they provide the right data to our dispatchers. We're always chasing technology which is what it boils down to."