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Preston approves funding for new 911 center: Some residents say they want more info
Dec 23, 2008 (The Dominion Post - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) --
Just before the Preston County Building Commission approved a resolution to finance a new 911 center, county commissioners fielded questions from the audience about the structure.
Tom Brown, a Kingwood contractor, asked the county and the building commission to reconsider before indebting county residents. He said with layoffs looming for many county residents, they could not afford to have their taxes increased.
Commission President Dave Price explained that money to pay off the bond would be paid from 911 fees, not from tax revenue. Those fees are collected from cell phone and landline phone bills, he said, and can only be used for 911 centers.
County commissioner Vicki Cole said phone users pay $1 per land line per month, and $3 per cell phone per month.
"That 911 center is going to cost us," said Tony Talerico, a retired Naval officer and school teacher who lives in the northern part of the county. "It's been sold to us as not going to cost money, the funds are from 911 fees. I don't believe it. You people would have us be in debt forever and have nothing to show for it."
Talerico also asked that the county halt plans for the center. "It won't hurt you to put it on hold for a few months so we can look at things closer," he said.
The resolution authorizes the Building Commission to issue revenue bonds in an amount not to exceed $2 million "to provide funds to finance the costs ... of acquisition, construction and equipping of a new 911 call center."
The center will be leased to the Preston County Commission. The money collected on the lease will pay off the bond over 15 years.
Preston Office of Emergency Management/911 Director Duane Hamilton said the 6,200-square foot facility, to be built on county land near Preston High School, will include storage for the OEM's communication equipment and trailers, a bunk room to house workers in the event of an emergency, and raised floors to accommodate all the computer cables and phone wires.
Rick Rhodes, of Tunnelton, said he talked to Price months ago about the center and "you told me the money was already there for it, that you weren't obligating us, that Duane had already chucked [the money] away. Do we have the money or not?"
"A substantial amount of money has been put back," Price said. "You can estimate the cost of a project and then find out it is more," he said. "The cost to do it has gone up. It hasn't gone to bid yet, so we don't know the price tag. We need more than we have in the bank."
Commissioner Craig Jennings said there is $800,000 in the bank for the project. "In talking to bond counsel, we thought it was best to take that money and leverage it toward a loan," he said. He reiterated that 911 fees can only go toward 911 expenses.
"And the $800,000 goes toward that bond?" Rhodes asked.
"Yes," Jennings responded.
"The state is specific on what money from 911 fees can be used for," Commissioner Vicki Cole said. "And it has to be spent on 911," Price said again.
Jennings said the payment on the center will be $160,000 a year. "Duane's got five years already saved," he said. Hamilton previously said he puts away about $200,000 per year from 911 fees collected from county residents. He could not be reached after business hours Monday to specify the total fees the county receives.
Hamilton said he's three years into the project -- he and 911 Assistant Director Melissa Hardy visited and called 911 centers around the state to find out what they would have done differently if they were building today. They compiled data about all the centers in the state in making plans for Preston County's center.
Mike Neel of Kingwood asked why space for the 911 center could not be found in the courthouse or Courthouse Annex. "How is it we purchased a building approximately the size of our old Courthouse and yet with all the designing -- how is it a space for the 911 center was not incorporated? I also can't figure out why it can't be incorporated now. Why can't we find enough room and use the existing buildings?"
"We need to stop this process," Brown said. "No matter what you say, 911 money is our money. We're going to pay interest on that credit. If we're going to have to borrow the money, the money isn't there. I do not believe in 'buy now, pay later.' If we have to float a bond, we don't have the money," he said.
"What we've always said is we had the $800,000 and the rest was to come from bonds and be paid back by 911 fees," Hamilton said.
Price explained that 911 fees are paid on telephone bills -- they're not a tax levied by the county.
Building Commissioner Vickie Jenkins said if people don't want to pay that fee, they should not use phones.
Bond counsel for the commission, Camden Siegrist of Bowles Rice McDavid Graff and Love, said $2 million is the upper end of the bond amount. "The county can draw down considerably less," he said.
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