LEPC -- Dispatch Center and funding

Nevada Daily Mail

The local emergency response agencies in Vernon County as well as other organizations heard a report from Nevada's city manager concerning the joint dispatch center during the Local Emergency Planning Committee meeting Wednesday.

J.D Kehrman told the agencies of the current financial struggles faced by the Western Missouri 911 Dispatch Center, as they continue to try to function with a $425,000 annual budget, when research has shown that it would be most efficiently and effectively run with a budget of more than $700,000.

Currently the funding is provided by the Vernon County Ambulance District, city of Nevada and Vernon County, but Kehrman said each agency has at least once failed to give their portion of that revenue, leaving the dispatch center to try to manage without that funding. But with the increase in calls, which totaled about 120,000 in 2014, even that funding is no longer enough as the board of directors at the center put together the 2015 budget knowing that by the end of the year, even their reserves would have been used up.

"This concept of joint dispatching in Vernon County is in peril," Kehrman said, calling the center the lifeline of the county. "This allocation method is shaky at best."

Just as the LEPC anticipates potential emergencies and disasters through training and preparation, Kehrman said the dispatch center, which recognizes in just a few years it may not be financially viable, is trying to plan ahead by putting a permanent sales tax in place to support the center.

Kehrman said the dispatch center is understaffed, underfunded, under-equipped, and will soon be unsustainable if the half-cent sales tax is not approved during the August election. To help educate the public on the need for the sales tax, he asked that the agencies represented at the LEPC meeting assist by calling voters they know and answering any questions they might have concerning the ballot item.

"The public doesn't understand," Kehrman said. "They just assume it's always going to be there for them."

If passed, the sales tax could raise about $800,000 to $900,000 for the dispatch center, allowing it to offer more competitive wages for the dispatchers and hire more, since it could be run most efficiently with 15 dispatchers instead of the current eight full-time dispatchers. It could also permit the purchase of updated equipment.

Kehrman said the two most common complaints they get concerning the dispatch center, from residents and emergency services alike, is having to wait for the call to be answered and being given misinformation. Both of those issues could be resolved with more staff, since Kehrman said those complaints were often due to dispatchers being overwhelmed by calls during a peak time.

Despite the increase in total taxes, bringing the rate up to an 8.225 percent rate in Nevada, Kehrman said other cities he looked at that support a 911 dispatch center have tax rates at about 8.5 to 10 percent, with larger areas having even higher rates. Meanwhile, some of Nevada's current taxes are sunset taxes that will end in the next decade.

Kehrman said Vernon County is one of just 19 Missouri counties that do not support a 911 center through a sales tax or landline surcharge. Missouri is also the only state that does not fund 911 through a cell phone tax. Kehrman added that he believes the sales tax is the most effective model.

"Nobody likes new taxes, but there's no other way to fund 911," Kehrman said.

Without the funding, Kehrman said they will likely have to take a step backwards by having each agency have their own 911 dispatch, which would lead to longer wait times for callers as they wait for the dispatchers to determine where they are and what agency their call needs to be directed to.

Nevada Fire Chief Bill Thornton recalled when they had to use that method before the current dispatch center began about five years ago and said he has no desire to go back to that.

The different agencies expressed an interest in spreading the word by personally contacting people they know and talking about the need for the sales tax. Thornton said already their agency is organizing a phone tree using volunteers from their department, who will call different people in the community to educate the public and answer questions.