Johnson County’s ready for new police radio regs

Johnson County residents won't see an increase in their monthly telephone surcharge because they're already paying for a new joint dispatch center that will meet a new federal standard for radio users.

“Those issues are being resolved because of the new system we just put in place,” said County Supervisor Terrence Neuzil, chair of the county's E-911 Board.

The county's new $20.5 million dispatch center, opened in late June, includes equipment compatible with the Federal Communications Commission's “narrowcasting” standard that takes effect in 2013. Officals in Linn and other Iowa counties are scrambling for ways to fund the changeover, which could potentially cost each county millions of dollars.

Linn County's E-911 board meets Monday to consider raising the present 25-cent monthly surcharge on landline telephones to $1. The increase, subject to a November referendum, would be an attempt to counter the loss of surcharge revenues due to the shift to cell phones.

Cell phone users are subject to a 65-cent monthly surcharge, collected and distributed by the state.

Neuzil said there are no plans to raise Johnson County's surcharge, currently 45 cents, despite similar revenue loss. The county will need to address that at some point to maintain its system, though.

“When we have less money at the local level we need to find it somewhere, and we did it by raising fees for the joint communications center,” Neuzil said. “For those counties that have to handle the new regulations it's going to potentially be a significant increase, either in their taxes or through their surcharges.”

The center is funded through a countywide levy of 77 cents per $1,000 of assessed evaluation,

For the Iowa State Patrol and other statewide agencies, “it could be expensive,” said Jim Bogner, coordinator of the Iowa Statewide Interoperable Communications Board. The board was created by the Legislature in 2007 to plan and implement the change among the state's public-safety agencies.

“We have been traveling around the state to other agencies and talking about this issue, so they know it's coming,” said Bogner.

Bogner's agency is charged with ensuring the state's local police, fire, and ambulance services make the change, and that their new systems work with each other. A consultant spent 18 months preparing a basic checklist for agencies to ensure that happens.

“Everything is timed so that they can continue to talk to each other,” he said.

Bogner said he may have a better idea of statewide costs after a board meeting next week.

“The state agencies are looking to put together some budgets this fall,” he said.

The FCC's new standard is designed to double the number of available frequencies on the radio spectrum to cope with the continued boom in cell phones and other wireless devices. Bogner said the change will affect some commercial users, although may use a frequency range that won't be included in the new regulations.