ERIN BLASKO, South Bend Tribune (Indiana)

St. Joseph County residents can expect to pay more now for all types of phone service, including wireless and voice over Internet protocol, or VoIP, thanks to a new state law that establishes standard 911 fees across the state.

Under the new law, which took effect July 1, cell phone customers in the county will pay an additional 50 cents per month, land-line and VoIP customers will pay an additional 30 cents, and pre-paid wireless customers will pay 25 cents more per transaction.

The new fees are an attempt to stabilize 911 revenue in the state, which has been on the decline in recent years as more and more people abandon land lines in favor of contract and prepaid cell phones and VoIP.

The fees are only a stop-gap measure, however, according to Barry Ritter, executive director of the Indiana Wireless Advisory Board.

“This latest bill has a three-year sunset clause in it, so the General Assembly has given our office and county governments three years to develop a sustainable, long-term funding solution,” Ritter said.

“So the determination that will have to be made is: will the 911 fee remain on phone bills, or will the government be required to fund 911 operations in another manner?” he said. “And there are several audits and reports required to be filed with the legislative council and the state budget agency over next three years to help answer those questions.”

911 fees support emergency dispatch operations in the state. However, most local units of government must supplement those fees with general fund money. For example, 911 fees cover less than half of the cost to operate the dispatch center in Clay Township, and less than 25 percent of the cost to operate the one in Mishawaka, according to information provided by those two units.

In South Bend, meanwhile, it is less than 11 percent.

Revenue generated by 911 fees can be used for a number of purposes, including to lease, purchase or maintain equipment and on personnel expenses. It cannot be used to add on to existing buildings or to construct new ones, or to purchase, lease or rent vehicles.

Noted Ritter, “The 911 fee, when it was established, was never intended to pay 100 percent of the operating expenses of a dispatch center.”

New vs. old

Prior to the adoption of the new 911 fees, each individual county in the state adopted its own monthly 911 rate for land lines and VoIP. The state, meanwhile, collected 50 cents per month on wireless devices and 25 cents per transaction on pre-paid cards, which it then distributed to counties based, primarily, on population.

In St. Joseph County, land-line customers paid 61 cents per month, one of the lowest rates in the state, county Auditor Pete Mullen said. The county could not increase its rate, according to state law, he said, based on the fact that it operated, and continues to operate, more than two dispatch centers.

(In an effort to improve emergency communications, the state has mandated that all 92 Indiana counties consolidate to no more than two dispatch centers, excluding those operated independently by colleges or universities, by the end of 2013.)

Under the old fee system, the county collected about $900,000 annually in local 911 fees plus $800,000 or so in state fees, which it then distributed to the county Sheriff’s Department, Clay Township, which handles dispatch operations in the unincorporated parts of the county, and the cities of South Bend and Mishawaka.

Under the new law, counties will receive a pre-determined amount of 911 revenue, a “hold harmless” amount, this year and each of the next two years based on an average of the annual amount received between 2009-2011. Ninety percent of any additional revenue collected by the state during that time would then be distributed to counties based on population, with the other 10 percent shared equally.

St. Joseph County is guaranteed at least $1,721,293 each of the next three years under the law, according to Ritter, though Mullen said he anticipates more.

“It should give us an increase in revenue over what we had in the past,” he said, “because we had one of the lowest rates in the state on land lines.”

Regardless, Mullen said, “I feel comfortable that we will not, under any circumstances, deprive citizens of the ability to dial 911.”

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