Police dispatch fees going up
Concord Monitor
February 11, 2008
Police departments using Bow’s dispatch center will see their costs double in the coming year.
Facing a tight budget, Bow’s selectmen are asking neighboring towns to pay their share of costs for the dispatch, beginning in July.
“The intent was to offset the additional cost to us for providing dispatch service to other towns,” said Town Manager Jim Pitts.
The dispatch center is run by the Bow Police Department and takes calls for departments in Allenstown, Dunbarton, Epsom and Pembroke. The center is staffed by five full-time employees, two part-time employees and one 32-hour-a week position, said Bow Police Chief Jeff Jaran. The town is budgeting about $400,000 to run the center, said Finance Director Bob Levan.
Under the old fee system, the four towns would have reimbursed Bow for $79,000 of the total cost. Now, Bow will get back $165,000.
Jaran said he first examined the dispatch fee structure when he arrived almost four years ago. At the time, towns paid a flat fee.
“There was no rhyme or reason to how any particular town was being charged; there was no formula,” he said. “These towns were not paying their fair share.”
The fee did not take into account the size of the department, the town’s population or the number of calls for service, he said.
About three years ago, Jaran created a fee that charged towns based on the number of calls for service. “I knew it was a stopgap measure, but I felt was it was more equitable,” Jaran said.
After budget cuts this year forced Bow selectmen to cut services and search for new sources of revenue, the selectmen came up with the new pay scale. The new scale includes a $10,000 base fee, plus a fee for service based on the number of calls in 2006. It goes into effect July 1, giving police departments the chance to include the new figure in their budgets for town meetings.
Local police chiefs say they understand Bow’s position, but it has made their budgeting more difficult.
“With the increase, it’s difficult when we’ve been on a default budget for three years to try to get the budget to pass,” said Epsom Police Chief Wayne Preve. “You’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.”
Epsom relies on Bow’s dispatch on nights and weekends, and its fee increased from $19,000 to about $42,000.
Preve praised the dispatchers, who take 911 calls and radio information to officers. “Without them we could be going into a situation where we have no idea what we’re going into,” he said.
He understands that Bow is just trying to raise money to cover costs. But he also plans to find out if there are other options, like moving to the Merrimack County Sheriff’s dispatch center. “We’re satisfied with dispatch, they do a good job, but we’re weighing everything,” Preve said.
Allenstown Police Chief Shaun Mulholland said he plans to stay with Bow. Like Preve, he understands the reason for the increase.
“I wouldn’t expect anything different from the taxpayers in Bow to expect us to pay our reasonable fair share,” he said.
But he, too, faces difficulties. Allenstown’s fees grew from $21,000 to more than $40,000.
“Any increase in costs is passed directly to taxpayers, and we’re already in a default budget now,” Mulholland said. If increases cause the budge to fail, Mulholland said his department could face cuts, including layoffs.
Those who want to move from Bow have limited options. Merrimack County dispatches for 13 towns, and its fees are lower than Bow’s new fees. The county brings in a total of $150,000 from the 13 towns, said Sheriff Scott Hilliard, although the county is reviewing the rates.
But Hilliard said the dispatch could not easily add four more towns. The dispatch would need more radio frequencies, which are difficult to get, and more personnel. It would also need a new terminal, which would be a tight fit in the current space, in the basement of the Merrimack County Courthouse. Infrastructure improvements could cost more than $200,000, Hilliard said.
Hilliard said he is talking to the commissioners and to the county delegation, which approves his budget, to find a solution. One answer to the frequency problem could be finding towns to sign over their frequencies to the county. Another could be obtaining grant money for mobile data terminals that allow dispatch calls to go out via computer.
“I understand the communities’ needs and hear them, and as their sheriff I’ll take their requests to the delegation and hopefully we can work together to resolve the issue,” Hilliard said.
Jaran said the state police and areas like Hooksett also have their own dispatch centers. “But the bottom line is cost and increased service drives personnel costs and everyone’s budget is tight,” Jaran said. “No one community is willing to carry the burden of costs for communities that should be paying their fair share on their own.”
Eventually, Jaran said, the solution could be a larger regional dispatch center for Merrimack County, where communities could pool personnel, equipment and technology. “I believe that’s the wave of the future,” he said.
PDF of Dispatch Fees [56KB]