LISBON — If the state decides to base the distribution of 911 wireless funding on the number of calls received, Columbiana County’s 911 system will lose money.

That possibility and funding overall were the main topics of discussion again at the county 911 Program Review Committee meeting Thursday afternoon.

And once again, the answers on what’s going to happen with the wireless funding depend on what the state decides.

County Emergency Management Agency Deputy Director and 911 Coordinator Brian Rutledge updated members on what’s he’s hearing about proposed state legislation to increase the 911 fee for wireless users. The fee is currently 40 cents per line, but the county only receives a portion of that 40 cents and that 40 cents sunsets in October this year.

An amendment passed by the Ohio House of Representatives proposes to increase the fee to 60 cents and is now with the Ohio Senate where there’s talk of increasing it to $1.25 per line.

Whether that will be enough remains unknown because both Rutledge and EMA Director Peggy Clark pointed out even if the fee was increased to $1.25, they don’t know how it will be distributed or how big the county’s portion will be.

Rutledge said the state appears to have enough funding to support the state core of Next Generation 911.

“We’re hoping the additional will come back to the county,” he said.

As for the call volume idea for the distribution of wireless 911 funds, if based on the 40-cent fee and the county’s annual 911 call volume of just under 25,000, Rutledge said the distribution for the next five years would gradually decrease. Last year, he said the county received $291,000 and in the subsequent years, the total will go from $233,000, to $218,000, to $207,000, to $199,000 to $193,000.

Under the current funding formula, he said the county is 27th out of 88 counties. For call volume, the county is 39th out of 88 counties, with Franklin, Cuyahoga and Hamilton the largest. The proposal for the call volume includes a minimum distribution of $175,000 for smaller counties, such as Noble County which answers about 3,377 911 calls per year.

Commissioner Roy Paparodis, who chairs the committee, said he spoke to state Sen. Al Cutrona and commissioners also met with Cutrona and state Rep. Monica Robb Blasdel and both support the fee increase.

Even with an increase to $1.25 per wireless line, officials indicated the state will remain way behind. Clark said in West Virginia it’s higher and each county can add their own amount, with the fee ranging anywhere from $3 to $8 per wireless line.

In a related funding matter, Rutledge reported submitting the annual expenses/revenue survey to the state to show the actual costs for 911 and how the 911 funding is being spent. The grand total for 2024 was $3,017,317 which includes the costs by the 911 system and by each of the five Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs), including wages and benefits paid by the communities to the dispatchers.

The way the county 911 system is set up, each PSAP is responsible for paying their dispatch personnel while the county 911 system pays for the equipment. The PSAPS include the Sheriff’s Office and the East Liverpool, Salem, East Palestine and Columbiana police departments.

Highlandtown Fire Chief Jeremiah Cole questioned if there’s a contingency plan in place in case the county’s 1% sales tax fails on Tuesday.

“If it doesn’t pass, there’s going to be layoffs,” Sheriff Brian McLaughlin said. “Communications will have to stay.”

McLaughlin serves as a member of the 911 Program Review Committee. He stressed that dispatch will have to remain in place, but deputies will be laid off. He was working in the sheriff’s office the last time that happened.

“It’s not going to be fun. Been there, done that before,” McLaughlin said.

In business related to radios, in response to questions at the last meeting regarding how other counties do it, Clark reported that she and Rutledge met with Boardman Police Chief Todd Werth to learn more about the Council of Governments set up between Austintown, Boardman and Mahoning County for their radio system. She said the current radio system included an initial investment of $900,000 each from Boardman and Austintown in 2012, with yearly maintenance fees of $70,000. In 2016, Mahoning County joined the radio system investing $1 million and another $1 million for radios.

In 2018, the maintenance agreement expired and the yearly fee increased to $280,000, with the COG charging an $18 per radio fee departments to help defer the costs.

Now she said the COG is upgrading to the MARCS radio system, with plans to upgrade the current radio system at a cost of $1.3 million, including $250,000 for a special structure to house equipment at a tower location and some radio equipment for Austintown and Boardman. Other departments will need to purchase MARCS radio equipment and the current four existing towers will be turned over to MARCS.

For funding, Clark said Mahoning County has a county justice tax, with a portion of that tax totaling $1.3 million to $1.4 million per year directed to the COG to help with dispatch costs. The county supplements the Austintown and Boardman dispatch centers with $300,000 to $400,000 from the general fund to address shortfalls, she said. Dispatch agencies also pay anywhere from several thousand dollars per year to up to tens of thousands of dollars per year for dispatch services.

Clark noted that Columbiana County doesn’t have the infrastructure to do what Mahoning County is doing for everyone to switch to the MARCS radio system while increases the ability for emergency responders to talk to each other.

The committee didn’t have a quorum at the last meeting, so this time around they approved the November meeting minutes.

The next meeting will be 1 p.m. Aug. 7 at the county EMA building in Lisbon.

mgreier@mojonews.com