Higher Tax Aids Local 911 Service

DAYTON - Columbia County Commissioners will convene Friday at 10:30 a.m. for a special meeting to adopt an ordinance raising excises taxes in the county. The new ordinance will increase what's known as the E911 Excise Tax from 50 cents to 70 cents on the use of all taxable switched access lines, radio access lines and interconnected voice-over In­ternet protocol services lines in Colum­bia County. W h a t this means for tax­payers

is simple. All phones in the county that had previously charged users a 50-cent excise tax each month will see that increase to 70 cents. The change might not mean a lot to taxpayers, but it means plenty to Bill Peters, Colum­bia

County's 911 coordinator and emergency manager.

And it could mean every­thing to a taxpayer on the end of a local 911 call. "This increase is to fund Next Generation 911 com­munications in the state," Peters said. "The expectation of the public, and it's a good expectation, is that every time they call 911 it's going to work and work immedi­ately."

In the early 1990s, Wash­ington legislators enacted Enhanced 911 statewide. This meant that anyone, anywhere in the state, could call 911 and receive an emer­gency response.

But this also meant equip­ment had to be consistent across the board, Peters said. Dayton had to have basically the same call center opera­tions as Seattle, for example.

The system calls for spe­cialized equipment, so when calls come through to 911 they can be directed to the closest law enforcement agency with all speed.

This system calls for dis­patchers, expensive equip­ment and access lines with phone companies.

"Unfortunately, costs keep going up," Peters said. But excise tax rates haven't in­creased since the '90s, he said. So the state senate passed a bill earlier this year forc­ing

local governments to increase these taxes in order to continue receiving grants from the state, grants Peters relies on to operate Columbia County's dispatch office.

On av­erage the county receives $2,000 per month through its excise tax. "Which d o e s n ' t come close to paying the salaries and cost of equip­ment," he said. Columbia County alone employs four full-time dis­patchers and two part-timers. The rest of the money needed to run the call center is sup­plied by the state. Involved in the need for more money to support 911 call centers is what's called Next Generation 911. This is a new system being intro­duced

in the state that allows for better cell service on 911 calls. Next Generation 911 will allow users to text 911, send mobile phone pictures or video to dispatchers, Pe­ters said. "This is something the people of Washington state said they wanted, so we need new equipment to accommo­date that," he said. The rate change proposed this week would go into ef­fect on Jan. 1.