After finalizing a contract with the City of Newton to provide dispatching service, Newton County is moving forward with consolidating 911 calls into one county-wide system.
In a regularly scheduled meeting Monday, E911 Director Bryan Taylor presented the Board of Supervisors with sample Interlocal Agreements for Decatur, Hickory and East Central Community College to provide 911 dispatching through the Newton County 911 Center.
“I’ll explain how I got these figures,” he said, discussing the county’s fee for providing dispatching service. “For Newton, I figured $12 per person per year, or $1 per person per month.”
For the contracts with the Town of Decatur and Town of Hickory, Taylor said, the same rate applied. East Central, however, is a little bit different at a rate of $9 per person per year.
“ECCC is different because they’re only in session nine months out of the year,” he said.
Taylor said he had been approached by leaders from ECCC, Decatur and Hickory after they had heard about the county’s dispatching plan. Preparing the contracts, he said, would allow the board to get their part done in case the municipalities agreed to join on.
“We’re already doing this for all three,” he said. “It’s only Union and Newton who were paying for their own dispatching.”
Although the board wanted municipalities to agree to the agreement voluntarily, County Administrator Steve Seale said he didn’t think the county had a choice anymore. Since the board signed a contract charging the City of Newton for dispatching service, he said it may not be legal to continue offering dispatching to ECCC, Decatur and Hickory for free.
“You’ve already charged a municipality for something. If you do the same thing for others for free, you’ve got trouble brewing,” he said.
The board agreed with Seale they couldn’t continue providing free dispatching to some towns after charging Newton. They instructed Taylor to add a deadline to the contracts to present to ECCC, Hickory and Decatur.
“If they don’t want to do this, they need to provide a number where we can forward dispatching calls,” he said.
But what happens if they don’t agree, Board President Charles Godwin asked? Should the county just stop 911 service?
Under Mississippi Law, municipalities are responsible for providing emergency service within their limits, Taylor said. It may not be an easy decision for these towns, Taylor said, but it is not the county’s responsibility to provide the service.
“They get the tax dollars from the areas in their city limits, but they’re also liable to provide these services,” he said.
All the contracts had a start date of July 1, which would be the first day of the new fiscal year for ECCC, Decatur and Hickory and would allow administrators to budget for the expense. The county’s dispatching agreement with Newton begins April 1.
In other dispatching business, the board approved spending $13,036.35 to purchase equipment for the Newton County 911 Center to incorporate the Town of Newton’s 911 calls. Taylor, who had initially said it would cost $12,000-$14,000, said there may be a few hundred dollars of additional cost down the road, but the bulk of the expense was included in the purchase.
The City of Newton will pay $43,000 per year for dispatching, which will more than cover the cost of the purchase, Taylor said.
