News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
If Pickett County wants to sever ties on the joint E-911 district, it will first need to go through a lengthy process.
Tennessee Emergency Communications Board Executive Director Curtis Sutton said state law allows the county to create a communications district through a public referendum, however, the state board would have to approve that referendum based on two determinations.
“Number one, the determination that the creation of a new emergency communications district is in the best interest on the public,” Sutton said. “Number two, a determination that the creation of a new district does not threaten the financial integrity, stability, level, or quality of 911 service of the existing emergency communications district.”
If the TECB does not find both determinations true, it will not allow the new district.
Since the state statute on creating an ECD was enacted, Sutton said the state board has never gone through this process of creating a new emergency communications district.
The state funds 911 through a charge on every landline and cell phone device, currently $1.16 per device.
Roughly 80-percent of that money goes to that local 911 center. The remaining stays with the state. For example, if every Pickett County resident has a phone, the county would receive just over $4,700 per month in state funding or approximately $56,582 annually.
Most city and county governments also supplement the device fees.
The Overton/Pickett Emergency Communications District was established in 2002 due to financial difficulties in both Overton and Pickett County trying to maintain separate 911 operations.
“Operating an emergency communications district is not a cheap or easy undertaking,” Sutton said. “911 technology is expensive and generally has a short life span. You have level of depreciation on very expensive equipment.”
If the new district gets into the business of dispatching out responses to 911 calls, Sutton said that district would also have to take into account the cost for call and dispatching equipment.
“There’s also personnel costs that have to come into play,” Sutton said. “In most situations, personnel is the highest cost driver for emergency communications districts.”
The state also requires the district to meet minimum training, equipment, and revenue standards. Sutton said the revenue standards describe what the district can and cannot spent money on.
As the smallest county in the state, Pickett County officials must consider these costs. County Executive Richard Daniel said Tuesday he wants to move forward with the county’s own ECD.
Sutton said both counties have to consider their past experiences with operating 911 systems separately
“I believe it was fiscally better for them at that time to combine into one emergency communications district, which is allowed under the statute,” Sutton said.
