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County
Commission Communications |
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REVENUE SHORTFALL STRETCHED EVEN FURTHER Sept, 2016 In past articles, I have explained how the Davis/DeKalb jail bill was increased this year from $30 per day per inmate to $34 per day per inmate. Davis/DeKalb had originally proposed raising our bill to $40 per day per inmate. We explained to them that we did not have the resources to increase our bill 33% which would have amounted to nearly $160,000 per year. We explained to them our plan to request from voters a sales tax increase to meet this and other needs in April of 2017, and they agreed to defer the increase to $40 until August of 2017. Another expensive service provided to Livingston County citizens is 9-1-1 Emergency Services. A few years ago we developed a partnership with the City of Chillicothe to have only one 9-1-1 emergency service for the City and County. At this time, we use the Trenton police for our back up. The revenue for this service comes from a fee on landline phones (Missouri is the only State that doesn't allow a fee on cell phones and other communication devices). Landline revenue is decreasing as people continue to use cell phones only and as a result revenue for 9-1-1 services is decreasing. In our arrangement with the City, we turn over the landline revenue to them and pay 37% of the shortfall to cover the service. This last year our portion of the shortfall was $80,000. Additionally, 9-1-1- technology equipment needs are changing rapidly particularly as our 9-1-1 calls each year continue to increase. Our current equipment is nearly obsolete and in need of replacement as evidenced by some recent dropped calls in parts of the county. At our last 9-1-1 Emergency meeting, the 9-1-1 Director Cindy Hanavan had received bids to replace our outdated equipment. The lowest bid for this equipment upgrade was $39,000 plus $42,000 annual maintenance. Based on our cost sharing arrangement, this will cost the County $14,430 upfront plus $15,540 annually in addition to the existing $80,000 annual shortfall we already have. Although these additional dollars are not huge amounts by themselves, we do not have this in our budget; and because of our very small reserves, this makes this cost a real issue for us. Additionally, we asked 9-1-1 Director Cindy Hanavan to project a long term 9-1-1 budget. Her projections for the next seven years show a gradual increase in expense as calls increase and additionally we project a gradual decline in revenue as land line revenue continues to decrease. Based on these two factors, the 9-1-1 deficit is projected to grow to $175,000 in year seven. Accordingly, we have placed this long term 9-1-1 deficit in our long term needs study for our anticipated revenue increase to be placed in front of the voters next April. We do not want to spend money we don't have, but 9-1-1 Emergency service is so important we feel like we need to go ahead with the upgrade now with the hope that the voters will approve the increased revenue as requested in April. The 9-1-1 issue underscores our need for the revenue increase next year. We don't want to be in a position to cut any essential services, in this case the prospect of not keeping up with needed 9-1-1 technologies. Not properly funding our 9-1-1 service is not an option when considering the best interests of our residents but could happen in the future without additional County revenue. |
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