The Town of Decatur won’t be receiving a discounted rate on dispatching service after Mayor David Marshall discussed a possible reduction Monday with the Newton County Board of Supervisors.
Starting October 1, Newton County began invoicing Decatur, and other municipalities within the county, for dispatching service. The fee, which was based on census populations for all municipalities, would cost Decatur about $16,836 per year.
Marshall, however, said the fee could be detrimental to his town’s budget.
“The Town of Decatur is a very frugal town,” he said. “$16,000 is really going to affect our budget.”
Decatur has a large number of county buildings, schools and non-profits within the city limits that impact its ad valorem taxes, Marshall said. The loss in tax revenue from hosting so many non-taxable buildings make it difficult for the town to weather large expenses like the dispatching fee imposed by the county.
Marshall asked supervisors if they would consider reducing or splitting the fee in light of the tax revenue loss from county structures.
“I was going to ask if you’d consider splitting that with us 50-50,” he said.
The county began approaching municipalities about the dispatching costs in April, working to secure contracts with each town. Throughout negotiations, Emergency Management Director Brian Taylor said exceptions were made for some towns.
“There were some exceptions for Hickory and East Central Community College,” he said.
The county made an exception for the Town of Hickory because Hickory Police Department only had an officer on duty eight hours per day, while the fee was calculated for 24 hours per day. ECCC was granted an exception because the college is only in session nine months out of the year.
“We did make some exceptions,” he said,
The Board of Supervisors reiterated the intention behind dispatching fees was not intended to punish, harm or negatively impact municipalities. Supervisor Charles Moulds said the issue was the cost of money and where to get it.
“We certainly don’t want to cripple nobody,” he said.
Newton County dispatch was handling all fire departments and the sheriff’s department before the fee was instituted. Since then, the Town of Hickory, East Central Community College and the City of Newton have signed dispatching contracts.
Providing that service costs money, Moulds said. To cover the cost, the county was faced with a choice between instituting a dispatching fee or raising taxes.
“We’re just trying to make the ends meet,” he said. “We’re trying to find the money for the services.”
Marshall said he would take the county’s stance back to the Decatur Board of Aldermen to see how they would like to proceed.
Decatur Aldermen have rejected paying the county invoices since they began receiving them in October.
