JEFFERSON — Ashtabula County commissioners tapped $184,250 from the county’s 911 Wireless Fund to pay for dispatching services provided by the Ashtabula County Sheriff’s Office and three primary public safety answering points.
Commissioners voted 3-0 Thursday to make the appropriation. County Administrator Janet Discher said $125,000 of the money will go for to the Sheriff’s Department. Of that, $108,271.98 will go for salaries and the balance to Public Employees Retirement System and Medicare taxes. Commissioners made the move as a way to help the sheriff, who has implemented furloughs in his department, stretch a thin budget.
Conneaut will receive $36,500, said Discher. Police Chief Jon Arcaro said his department will use the money to upgrade equipment related to 911 services.
“We have no intention to use it for wages,” Arcaro said. “But we definitely have needs for equipment upgrades, that’s for sure.”
Geneva will receive $22,750. Chief Dan Dudik could not be reached for comment on how that department will use the money.
Commissioners were willing to take up to $250,000 of the wireless money. However, Ashtabula police chose not to participate in the distribution. The city would have received $65,750. Chief Robert Stell was unavailable for comment, but it was previously reported the city did not want to take the money for fear it would trigger a finding on the state audit.
Discher said money offered to the PSAPS was allocated according to a formula based upon the number of calls handled.
The move has been a controversial one, infuriating Vince Gildone, who chairs the county’s 911 Advisory Board, which had other plans for the money.
“This has not gained them any friends,” Gildone said of the commissioners, who acted contrary to the stance of the State Fire Chief’s Association and many advisory board members.
“I haven’t changed my mind about this. They should not be taking it,” Gildone said.
The money comes from a tax paid by wireless customers, and Gildone said that as an unvoted tax, the money ought to be “treated with more respect than using it for whatever.” The money is intended for 911 system upgrades, but governments throughout the country are raiding the funds as they scramble to plug budgets holes drilled by spiraling tax revenues.
Commissioner Dan Claypool said the board is being very specific about how the money can be used: personnel that answer and dispatch 911 calls and equipment used in that service.
“It’s not a blank check,” Claypool said.
But Gildone said using the money for salaries is a “slippery slope.”
“We can’t afford to pay everybody’s dispatchers,” he said. “It’s an uncomfortable situation.”
Gildone said the transfer will leave a little more than $300,000 in the account, money the advisory board will need to prepare for the next generation of 911 technology. The advisory board also needs money to invest in the geographic information system (GIS) being developed for the county. The system would correct many of the deficiencies in the current mapping system that is used to direct responders to calls originating through the 911 system. Thousands of address errors have been identified in the existing program.
Commissioners last week approved a memorandum of agreement with the state to help the county develop its GIS project. Gildone said money is available through the Department of Transportation and Ohio Geographically Referenced Information Program Office to assist counties, but the county must have upfront money to get that assistance.
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