By Stacy Lee, Pittsburgh Tribune Review
Original publication date: April 2, 2011

Munhall, Pa. — Munhall officials once again are trying to get back money residents pay toward Allegheny County 911 because the borough has its own dispatch system.

Borough solicitor Greg Evashavik has sent a letter to the county requesting the funds be paid back from the last several years.

“Everybody is paying a dollar for 911 and yet we don’t need 911,” Munhall Mayor Raymond Bodnar said. “We have the best dispatch system around. Our ambulance, police and fire answer in minutes. I’m not saying anything bad about 911. It’s just our guys monitor most calls. Our reason for having 412-464-7300 as the emergency line is very valid to me.”

He said while most surrounding communities have county 911 because it saves money, he believes a community having its own dispatch saves time in emergencies.

Evashavik said the issue of Munhall residents being charged fees for county 911 and the borough not being reimbursed for the money was brought to his attention by Munhall council president Joseph Ballas.

“Anyone that has a landline especially and now even wireless will see an emergency 911 charge of $1,” Evashavik said. “That’s based on a charge imposed by your local government regardless of where you live. You all pay for emergency services such as fire and rescue. That $1 fee is transported by the telephone service provider to the county.”

He said he wrote a letter to county Treasurer John Weinstein about it.

“A letter has been sent and I requested full accounting from the treasurer’s office for all funds collected from these fees being paid by our residents on their phone bill and requesting the money be returned to Munhall borough,” the solicitor said.

Kevin Evanto, spokesman for Allegheny County Executive Dan Onorato, said the state collects the money from the phone bills, keeps some and the remaining money goes to the appropriate county.

“Even though Munhall dispatches their own calls, it still goes to the Allegheny County 911 Center,” he said.

Evanto said county 911 dispatchers answer the calls coming from Munhall and take information, and send the calls back to Munhall dispatchers once they find out it’s a Munhall emergency call. “That fee is for 911 service,” he said. “State law says it goes to 911 centers.”

Munhall Councilman Bernie Shields said borough officials tried to get that 911 money when he first became a councilor in 2000 or 2001, and Munhall was turned down.

“There were probably 30 municipalities asking for it back then and we were all turned down,” he said. Evanto said any county municipality that has its own dispatch can sign up for county 911 at no charge.

As for Munhall officials’ concerns that Allegheny County 911 takes longer to dispatch calls, Evanto invited them to visit the county 911 center and talk with representatives to see that isn’t the case. He said most Allegheny County municipalities use county 911.

“A lot of municipalities realized they can save money,” Evanto said.

He said last August the county had a major update in its system by adding computer-aided dispatch.

“It’s integrated with GIS (geographic information system) so we pinpoint where the call is coming from within a few hundred feet,” Evanto said. “It also allows us to send information directly to a police car computer or fire vehicle instead of over the radio.”

Newer cell phones are integrated with GIS tracking. 

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