Local Law Enforcement Express Support for 911 Fee Increase

When you have an emergency and dial 911, you expect paramedics, police and firefighters to respond right away.

But, local law enforcement says the system Linn County uses to receive those 911 calls needs an upgrade. Voters will decide whether to approve money needed to fund that upgrade during the November election.

If you live in Linn County and have a landline, you pay 25 cents every month per line to support the 911 system.

That fee has remained the same for the past two decades. It's the lowest 911 surcharge in the state.

But, now people are dropping their landlines for cell phones and the cost of 911 equipment is climbing.

When you dial 911 in Linn County, an operator at the Cedar Rapids Police Department, Linn County Sheriff's Office or Marion Police Department will answer your call. However, law enforcement for these three agencies don't have the proper equipment to share information easily.

“We don't have an easy way for all of us to communicate together,” Linn County Sheriff Brian Gardner said.

Marion Police Chief Harry Daugherty said, “If there's a big disaster, you want us all to get there as quick as we can, respond and have all the information. When we're on different frequencies, that's really tough.”

Plus, new federal requirements will soon force emergency call centers to upgrade their equipment.

“We have to purchase new radio equipment for our small town fire departments and rural fire departments. We have to upgrade our pagers and pager systems,” James Houser, chair of the Linn County E911 Service Board said.

Those upgrades will include technical aspects like the ability to text an emergency instead of dialing 911.

“As more and more people want those types of technology, we have to be ready to upgrade our equipment to support it,” Charlie McClintock, Joint Communications Supervisor at the Cedar Rapids Police Department said.

Cell phone users pay a fee for 911 service, but only a portion of those surcharge remains in the local area.

“The money from the cell phone surcharge goes directly to the state and they meter that out as they see fit. We maintain the moneys from the landline surcharge,” Gardner said.

Fewer landlines means fewer dollars for equipment and that's why local law enforcement wants voters to approve the fee increase.

If voters approve increasing the 911 surcharge from 25 cents per line to up to one dollar per line, it would cost the average person about nine dollars more a year. This is the first time this issue has come before voters in the past two decades.

At a time when everyone's watching their wallet, officials know people may struggle with the idea of supporting this kind of a fee increase.