SHALIMAR — By mid- to late 2023, first responders from dozens of local, state and federal agencies should be able to start using a single Okaloosa County-wide emergency public safety radio communications system that’s expected to be a vast improvement over the...

GENESEE COUNTY – Genesee County residents will decide on May 4 whether or not to renew a 911 surcharge.The Genesee County Board of Commissioners voted in January to approve placement of the renewal surcharge of $1.86 on the special election ballot. The current 911 surcharge is due to expire at year’s end.“Right now, everybody is getting charged $1.86 per device, and that legislation sunsets on Dec. 31, 2021, so our funding will go away 100%,” said Spring Tremaine, Genesee County 911 Administrator. “We are 100% funded by this $1.86 per device, so we have to renew it to continue our existence.”If approved by the voters, the surcharge will assess a charge on all landline, wireless, and voice over internet protocol service devices located within Genesee County of up to $1.86 per month, for a period ending on December 31, 2026.Voters approved a hike to the 911 consortium surcharge back in 2017 that increased the rate from $1.24 to the current $1.86 surcharge. The surcharge rate had not changed since it was set by the state in 2008.“We actually went to the voters back in 2017, and they approved a 62-cent hike which did increase our budget and we have ever since purchased radios and all kinds of equipment that was at end of life,” Tremaine said.“$1.86 is actually one of the lowest in the state. We are allowed to use up to $3 per device and many agencies are pulling that and many are in the $2 range, so we are one of the lowest in the state,” she said. “We pay for everything from labor to our operations, our equipment, sustaining our nine towers in the county, and all of those funds help us continue on.”However, if the surcharge is not approved, and funding was to be decreased, a backup plan has been set aside to make sure the dispatch center continues, but on a limited basis.“There is a plan, it’s called the 911 plan, and in the plan, if the money went away, there’s a feature in there where all of these municipalities would have to pitch in and help pay for it,” Tremaine said. “But many of those municipalities have come forward and said ‘we can’t possibly afford that.’”The plan is funded through a percentage that’s based on how large a city is, meaning that a city like Flint would have to pay more into the funding.Although it would help keep dispatch in continuation, Tremaine said the individual municipalities across Genesee County would have to pitch in a “bombshell just to help keep us going.”“It’s just under $8 million and most of these agencies can’t come up with those funds, so we do have roughly $3 million, right now, in our reserves that we could rely on, but that would only get us through about half of the year,” she said.Genesee County 911 Dispatch Authority represents 31 local municipalities and dispatches for all police, fire and EMS agencies within the county, with the exception of the city of Fenton. Genesee County Dispatch Authority is made up 60 employees, of which 50 of them are assigned as dispatchers and work 365 days a year, seven days a week.“We do everything from all of the 911 calls plus numerous non-emergency type calls for alarms, and things like that,” Tremaine said. “We handle approximately 400,000 dispatch calls for police, fire and EMS, a year.”Despite the City of Fenton having it’s own dispatch center, the Genesee County surcharge does help fund part of Fenton’s dispatch center and also helps to offset the cost on their budget.The City of Fenton is in full support of the surcharge, Tremaine said, having approached the County Board of Commissioners on the matter multiple times.Tremaine wants to reassure the residents of Genesee County that the renewal is to keep $1.86 the same and not to raise the surcharge, taking into account the hard times that everyone has dealt with this past year due to the COVID-19 pandemic.“I want to assure the public that we are spending our money in a smart way and in a very fiscally responsible way,” Tremaine said. “We appreciate that and we operate with that and we hope that it will continue. We just want Genesee County residents to be served well and we want them to know that they are in control of their 911 center, this is their 911 center.”Read more on MLive:MTA offering free rides to COVID-19 vaccine appointments for Genesee County residentsWith cases rising, Genesee County health officials push for vaccine sign-upsGenesee County considers 911 surcharge while Flint public safety, MTA tax requests head to May ballot

ALGER COUNTY, Mich. (WLUC) - As Alger County voters head to the polls on May 4, they will decide on a potential tax increase for emergency dispatch services. The Alger County Sheriff’s Department is asking for a .5 mill increase for 911 operations. The increase would...

AUSTIN (KXAN) — On Thursday, Austin City Council members will vote on an ordinance that would create an Emergency Communications Department to handle 911 calls, separate from Austin Police Department. This is the latest item up for a vote in the city’s efforts to...

DEERFIELD, IL — When you’ve been working together for 40 years, what’s another five. The Deerfield Village Board voted Monday to approve an emergency dispatch service agreement between the Village of Deerfield and the Village of Bannockburn. As part of the agreement, Deerfield will continue providing 24-hour a day answering of all emergency 9-1-1 and police 10-digit emergency telephone calls emanating from within the borders of Bannockburn, among other services, at a total cost of $1,020,216. In 2019, Deerfield formed a consolidated dispatch center and also provides similar services for the villages of Riverwoods and Lincolnshire.The cost of the services for Bannockburn over the course of the next five years breaks down as follows: Year 1 (2021): $190,844Year 2 (2022): $197,227Year 3 (2023): $203,868Year 4 (2024): $210,958Year 5 (2025): $217,319 On April 12, the Village of Bannockburn’s Village Board approved the five-year agreement for Deerfield to continue the services of emergency dispatch. “[The agreement] is substantially similar to what other communities have in place with us. It is a five-year agreement that is financially the same as the other communities,” Deerfield Police Chief John Sliozis said at Monday night’s meeting. “We’ve added some language about IT services, but it will provide substantially similar services to what we’ve been providing them in the past and will continue to serve.” Stay Patched In!

When looking at the minimum qualifications and the amount of training that go into shaping a successful emergency dispatcher and pairing that with the competence required in taking a 9-1-1 call, it certainly is puzzling that these professionals are classified by New...

Burnsville Fire Chief BJ Jungmann says inadequate staffing levels and increasing 911 calls have caused the city's combined fire and ambulance service to fall behind the demands of the community.  In recent years, there've been more than 150 incidents when the...

The Springville Police Department would like to congratulate dispatcher Anna Whitehead Melton with St. Clair County Central Dispatch for receiving the Alabama APCO Award of Excellence for consistently exceeding expectations in emergency communications. Also,...

Public safety communications on the East End got a $1.75 million shot in the arm yesterday from the Suffolk County Legislature.
Legislators unanimously approved bonding and the appropriation of bond proceeds to fund a communications system upgrade that will allow law enforcement agencies and first responders on the East End to communicate with each other and the county police department on the same radio frequencies.
The project provides long-sought communications “inter-operability” for the various law enforcement and public safety agencies on the East End and with county public safety dispatchers — something officials have been working toward since 2001.
It also will provide consistent “portable coverage” with hand-held radios, which officers use when they are out of their vehicles. Currently coverage for hand-held radios is spotty in many locations on the East End, which puts the lives of police officers and the pubic they serve at risk, County Legislator Bridget Fleming said yesterday.
The project funded yesterday will cover the costs of a new communication tower structure, communications and technology equipment in Jamesport. The site has not yet been finalized, according to Legislator Al Krupski’s office.
Future communications upgrades slated for the East End include sites in Eastport and Southampton, Suffolk County Police Department communications director Mike Postel told the legislature’s public safety committee members.
“This is a life and death situation that’s been going on many years on the East End,” Fleming said.
Southampton Town Police Chief Steven Skrynecki and Sag Harbor Police Chief Austin McGuire spoke in favor of the project at yesterday’s general meeting of the legislature.
McGuire, who is vice president of the East End Police Chiefs Association, told legislators the association supports the effort, which has been in the works since the months following the September 11 terrorist attacks, which highlighted inter-operability deficiencies among law enforcement agencies.
“This will provide seamless communications between county police, other police agencies and first responders,” McGuire said.
Skrynecki agreed. The agencies on the East End operate on different frequencies, the chief said, because they lack the infrastructure to support unified communication.
“This will support that infrastructure and allow us to all operate on the same frequencies,” Skrynecki said.
“It’s very, very critical to public safety as well as the safety of the officers involved,” he said.
The Riverhead Police Department already uses the county radio system, and the Riverhead Volunteer Ambulance Corps just upgraded its communication system to one that communicates with the county system — but other East End police departments and first responder agencies are on still using other systems.
The communications project will give the East End Drug Task Force the ability to interface with all the East End police departments, Craig Pavlik of the Suffolk County District Attorney’s Office told legislators.
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💌 Love Philly? Sign up for the free Billy Penn newsletter to get everything you need to know about Philadelphia, every day. A month after Walter Wallace Jr. was killed by police in front of his home, the Philadelphia Police Department quietly rolled out a new script...

STRATFORD, CT — Stratford's public safety dispatchers were honored this past week as part of the National Public Safety Telecommunicators Week. Stratford Mayor Laura Hoydick recognized the Stratford Public Safety Communications Center's staff by releasing an official...

EVANSTON — Designated during the second week of April, National Public Safety Telecommunications Week celebrates dispatchers throughout the U.S., to thank and honor those who dedicate their lives to public service and to create an awareness of their hard work and...