Public-safety tax proposed to fund 911 center

The next logical step in creating a permanent funding stream for the new consolidated 911 center in Flathead County is to add a public-safety levy to property tax bills in the county, Flathead County Commissioner and 911 board chairman Jim Dupont said at a Monday night meeting to discuss the center.

County commissioners and city council members from Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish, along with 911 center employees and various county and city employees, held an informational meeting about the center, its funding and its structure.

The 911 center opened in June 2010. It’s a consolidated operation that replaced four separate dispatch centers in the county. It’s funded by the county and the three incorporated cities in the county.

A tax levy is “the most equitable” method to fund the center, Columbia Falls City Council member and 911 board member Mike Shepard said.

The question becomes when to ask voters to approve that levy.

“It’s never a good time to go to the voters” for more taxes, Dupont said. “But voters understand the need for 911 services.”

Whitefish City Manager Chuck Stearns agreed that a countywide tax levy is the fairest way to fund the center. Because a tax levy is based on the taxable valuation of property, “it’s generally equitable,” he said.

Like Dupont, Stearns wondered “when could we pose it and how many times would it fail?”

While more registered voters live in the county, outside the city limits of the three cities, the levy must appeal to people throughout the county in order to gain voter approval, Stearns said.

Until a levy is in place, Stearns said the base funding level from the four government entities must stay in place to fund the center. He thinks the entities that are sent to various calls by 911 dispatchers should also be billed for the dispatching services. That would include fire departments, the state and ambulance crews, among others.

Some entities that have been informed of that idea aren’t in favor of it, Stearns said. For example, quick-response units have said there isn’t anyone they can bill for their work in order to pay the 911 center fee. And the Smith Valley fire chief said her department could just urge area residents to call the fire hall instead of 911 to avoid the user charge.

Such issues must be resolved before any user fees would be implemented, Stearns said.

He has proposed a tiered approach to assessing those fees, charging a lower amount in the first year, increasing it in the second year and then reaching the full charge in year three. That assessment could generate $197,000 a year by the third year, he said.

Today, the center is funded mostly from assessments paid by the four government entities, in a population-based formula. Flathead County is contributing 66 percent of the budget for the 2011-12 fiscal year, which totals $1.38 million. Kalispell pays 22 percent or $458,736 this year. Whitefish contributes 7 percent or $145,961 and Columbia Falls pays 5 percent or $104,258.

Those numbers don’t total 100 percent of this year’s $2.68 million operations budget, Flathead County Finance Director Sandy Carlson said, because the center also receives money from the 911 fee assessed telephone users, earns some money from investments and receives some grant funds.

The 911 center operated with a negative cash balance for much of its first year because actual costs exceeded projected costs to construct and equip the facility.

To help remedy that situation and to have cash to pay for equipment repairs and upgrades, the county commissioners earlier this year authorized the sale of $800,000 in bonds. In 2007 county voters approved a $6.9 million bond issue, but at that time the former 911 director recommended only $6.1 million of bonds be sold.

County officials agreed with a recommendation from city finance directors and the 911 board to fund the cash account via a bond sale rather than asking the four government entities to pay more money to the center to have a cash account.

County commissioners also have decided the county will pay its share toward the center in advance of receiving tax revenues from the state. And, cities have agreed to try to pay quarterly instead of twice a year to improve cash flow at the center, Columbia Falls City Manager Susan Nicosia said.

“That should help keep us out of the red,” she said.

Some discussion focused on the maintenance contract price for the New World software that is used in the center. This year the price is $145,000 and escalates every year of the five-year software agreement, Emergency Services 911 Technology Program Manager Paul Schauble said.

Responding to questions from Kalispell Mayor Tammi Fisher, Schauble said New World employees have repaired all service issues with the program that center officials have sought. The software package doesn’t match up 100 percent with the 911 center’s business configuration, he said, which has resulted in some user dissatisfaction.

However, Schauble said, the new software has resolved an arrest warrant issue that used to exist in Flathead County. Because each police department used its own software, there was no easy way to share that information.

The new software has improved the ability to share information between departments, he said, and to get pertinent information to officers almost immediately.

New World has designed their software to meet the needs of users across the United States, Kalispell Police Chief Roger Nassett said.

The software package was built “for one size fits all,” Nassett said. “Hopefully it will better in the near future.”

Reporter Shelley Ridenour may be reached at 758-4439 or sridenour@dailyinterlake.com.