Decatur aldermen are seeking answers about a proposed 911 dispatching agreement with Newton County as the deadline to approve or reject the contract draws near.
In a Board of Aldermen meeting last Tuesday, Mayor David Marshall reminded the board the county was set to begin charging for dispatching service October 1.
“So, we hadn’t done anything with that and the board (of supervisors) hasn’t backed off on that,” he said.
Decatur police and fire departments are already dispatched through Newton County’s call center, a service which, until now, the town has received free of charge. Under the proposed agreement, however, the Town of Decatur would pay approximately $1,400 per month for the same services.
“It seems like we’ve been getting that service all along,” Alderman Phil Sutphin said. “Nothing is changed as far as we’re concerned, and now they’re going to charge us for something we’ve been getting all along. It seems a little bit wrong.”
Marshall said the aldermen could go to the next county Board of Supervisors meeting to address some of their concerns about the agreement. He said the town has been providing security for the Newton County Courthouse while court is in session, and several county properties are under Decatur fire protection.
The town could draw up an interlocal agreement to begin charging the county for those services, if that was a measure the Board of Aldermen wanted to take, Marshall said.
Alderman Mark Buntyn said he understood the idea behind charging for 911 was to be fair to all the municipalities throughout the county. However, he said, the execution of that idea was flawed.
“If you’re a citizen of Decatur and also of Newton County, you pay that same millage,” he said. “You’re paying exactly what a non-municipal resident of Newton County is paying.
By charging the municipalities, which are funded by the taxpayers, for service, Buntyn said the fee could be viewed as double taxation on residents of Newton County towns.
“It really needs to be discussed because we’re going to be taxing our citizens, in addition to what they’re already being taxed for by the county, for services they’re already getting,” he said. “That’s double taxation. You can’t do that.”
The board agreed to attend the next Board of Supervisors meeting, which will be Thursday, and present their questions and concerns to the county supervisors.
