Linn County voters reject raising E-911 surcharge

By a wide margin, Linn County residents on Tuesday voted 41,993 to 29,845 with 82 out of 87 precincts reporting reject increasing the monthly surcharge on their landline phone bill from 25 cents to $1 for enhanced 911 services.

Linn County asked voters to approve the surcharge increase to comply with a Federal Communications Commission requirement that all communications centers be narrowband by Jan. 1, 2013. Linn County has the lowest E-911 surcharge in the state.

The extra money, about $1 million a year, would have helped buy new pagers for police and fire personnel as well as update the communication centers to narrowband. This would have been the first increase in the county's E-911 surcharge since it was adopted in 1991.