Divergent plans for 911, depending on levy vote

It’s budget season for local governments, and this year Deschutes County 911 Director Becky McDonald is coming up with two of them.

One is if voters pass a five-year tax levy on the May 20 ballot, to fund more staff, new equipment and a new building.

The second is if voters shoot it down. Deschutes County’s budget committee is meeting the week of the primary, and if the levy fails, McDonald will have two days to rework the budget.

The difference, county officials say, is key to whether the emergency dispatch center can keep up with an ever-increasing workload. And it’s also important for the district’s financial health, as the previous levy expired in June 2007, and the district is now largely running on its contingency fund.

“The givens that would happen no matter what, we would continue to hold hiring and not fill any positions,” McDonald said, about what the district would do if the levy fails.

“The rest would be going through, line item by line item, and finding out what we can do without,” she said.

The district went out for a levy last May and was defeated because not enough voters cast ballots to get by the double majority rule, which requires that at least 50 percent of registered voters weigh in. This time, officials hope the draw of a presidential primary will be enough to get it passed.

The district’s finances

Ever since the Deschutes County 911 Service District was set up in 1988 to pay for emergency dispatchers, the permanent property tax has never been enough to support the center, according to some county employees.

Measure 50, which voters approved in 1997, permanently fixed the taxing rates in place at the time. Raising the permanent tax rate is a difficult process that would require the county to scrap the existing district and create a new district with a new rate. As a result, the dispatch center has resorted to levies when it needs more money.

The last 911 levy passed in March 2003. That one largely funded technology to link records systems among area law enforcement agencies. It also increased dispatcher salaries and added two new employees to keep up with growth in the region.

If the levy on the May ballot passes, it will charge 23 cents per $1,000 in assessed property value, in addition to the 16-cent permanent tax rate. For a home assessed at $200,000, that would mean a property tax increase of $46, for a total of $78.

In addition to property taxes, the district also receives 43 cents of the 75-cent telephone surcharge that the state collects on land lines. The district received $759,640 from this surcharge in the 2007-08 fiscal year, according to Deschutes County’s adopted budget. Those amounts have fluctuated in the past three years, but McDonald did not know whether increased usage of cellular phones as primary phones was to blame.

Running on reserve

The 911 district has used its reserve fund to keep operating since then and has $1.7 million in the fund to use in the future. County Administrator Dave Kanner said the fund will run out 18 months after the next fiscal year starts in July if the latest levy does not pass. McDonald said the district needs about $4.4 million annually to operate.

During the current budget year, the district froze two open dispatcher positions and has put off some technology upgrades, McDonald said. The 29 dispatchers work with all the law enforcement agencies, emergency medical services and firefighting agencies in Deschutes County, McDonald said. They also dispatch fire and emergency medical services for part of southern Jefferson County, which pays the district for the service, Sheriff Larry Blanton said.

The district will hire two dispatchers in the upcoming fiscal year if the levy passes, and at least one dispatcher and possibly a supervisor in the following year, McDonald said.

McDonald said 911 uses a formula to determine a safe workload that the dispatchers can handle without getting burned out. When calls to 911 increase, as they have over the past 15 years, the call center needs to add dispatchers, McDonald said. Since it takes nearly a year to train a dispatcher, the district tries to prevent a high employee turnover.

The district would also use revenue from the levy to move into a larger facility, which it would need if it hires any more dispatchers. The current facility is packed with the dispatchers and other employees, McDonald said.

“We have 35 people sharing one bathroom,” she said. “We’ve had to take our conference room and chop it in half to add more consoles there. We’re definitely at a screeching halt in any growth in our call center.”

The 911 dispatch center is currently located in the sheriff’s building, McDonald said. Blanton said the 911 district executive board is looking into the possibility of constructing a county building near the public safety campus.

Blanton did not know how much the facility would cost. Deschutes County is also talking to the Oregon State Police about renting the first floor of the building to help cover its cost, Blanton said.

Although the last levy funded some equipment purchases, McDonald said the computers and other equipment at the 911 call center run 24 hours a day, seven days a week and have a cycle of when they need to be replaced.

“If we don’t replace them, they will break, and that puts us in a bad position,” McDonald wrote in an e-mail.

“We have a radio system that is nearing the end of its life,” she said. The radio would cost about $3.1 million to replace. The district will also need to add more dispatcher consoles if it adds staff.

McDonald, Blanton and Coun- ty Commissioner Dennis Luke said the nature of 911’s operations makes it important to keep some level of reserve funds, rather than using them up to keep operating. Public safety services usually need to operate with some kind of contingency fund, McDonald said, because they could have to draw on those resources if a major emergency takes place.

Blanton said 911 relies on its technology and needs the reserve, or contingency, funds in case equipment breaks down.

“Contingency is vital and important for an organization that is technology driven, much like 911 is, because at any point you could have a major issue with technology or other equipment,” Blanton said. “It’s a dangerous business to be running on contingency.”

Looking ahead

Luke said that without the levy, the 911 service has no more room to add dispatchers and could eventually start taking longer to answer calls. “As they do in some areas, you could be on hold,” Luke said.

Kanner also said 911 dispatchers may eventually have to put callers on hold, if the call center cannot increase dispatchers to keep up with population growth.

“Realistically, it would result in a decrease in service levels,” Kanner said.

Luke said if the May levy fails, the 911 district could go out again in the November general election, when the tax measure will not require a double majority to pass. If voters approve the levy in May, the 911 district can begin collecting the added tax in November, McDonald wrote in an e-mail. In contrast, the district would have to wait until November 2009 to collect on a levy passed in the November general election.

McDonald said the 911 district wants to use the proposed five-year levy, if it passes, as a time to explore how to raise the permanent tax base for a more stable source of funding.

“It’s going to be pretty intensive,” she said of the process. “We’ve been behind the curve since day one. Obviously there’s something that needs to be fixed here.”