Newton County 911 dispatch is pushing for county-wide consolidation, but success may carry a hefty price tag.
In a regularly scheduled meeting Thursday, Newton County E911 director Brian Taylor told the board he would need to purchase $12,000-$14,000 in equipment to add municipal dispatching services to the call center system.
Taylor, who came before the board to update supervisors on contract negotiations with the City of Newton, said if the contract is approved, he would need to purchase the new equipment before Newton dispatching could be ported over to the county system.
However, he said, it should be a one-time cost.
“I don’t want to tell you there won’t be additional cost if Union or Hickory come on, but this will be the bulk of it,” he said.
That may sound like a big cost, Taylor said, but should consolidation work, the board would be looking at $90,000 - $100,000 in new revenues, far more than the initial cost.
“You’ll come out ahead,” he said. “Even if you only do this for one year, you’ll still come out ahead.”
Newton County has been working on contracting with local municipalities to consolidate 911 dispatching into one system. Under the current system, all 911 calls are initially answered by the Newton County 911 Center and then transferred to municipal dispatchers. Taylor, who has been negotiating on the county’s behalf with Union and Newton aldermen, has said cutting out the middle man would improve communication and save everyone money in the long term.
In Thursday’s meeting, Taylor told the board Newton Aldermen had requested a sample contract sent over to review, and he had sent a copy to Board Attorney Jason Mangum to look over.
“It looks good, bro,” Mangum said, adding he had already forwarded the contract to the Newton board’s attorney, Brian Mayo.
In his proposal, Taylor said he was suggesting a population-based cost of $12 per person per year for the county to handle all 911 dispatching for municipalities. For the City of Newton, he said, that would be about $40,500 per year.
If the City of Newton signs the contract, Taylor said he would need approximately 90 days to enter all of Newton’s data into the 911 system and install the necessary equipment for the process to be final. While he initially asked the board to grant him permission to purchase the equipment should Newton sign the contract, Board President Charles Moulds told Taylor he would need an exact price before the board could sign off.
“Why don’t you get together a list of all the expenses by next meeting,” Supervisor Charles Godwin suggested.
Taylor said he would do some further research and, should the contract be signed before the board’s Jan. 7 meeting, he would work on inputting data until the equipment could be ordered.
