County 911 wireless revenue figure remains unclear | News, Sports, Jobs

LISBON — Columbiana County 911’s finances under its new monthly wireless fee remain unclear, and the state still hasn’t decided what formula to use to determine how much money each county will receive.

“I wish we had a little clearer picture of where we’re headed.” said Brian Rutledge, deputy director of the Emergency Management Agency and 911 coordinator.

During Thursday’s meeting of the 911 Program Review Committee, Rutledge reported a lack of response from the state regarding how much fee revenue the county will receive, noting there has been some talk about factoring in call volume, call volume based on population and other scenarios.

Columbiana County Commissioner Tim Weigle reported the fund totals, with the wireline fund balance at $716,044 and the wireless fund balance at $1,354,819. According to Rutledge, the fund is actually $32,000 higher than last year.

Weigle said the county may not see any increase in wireless if the state is guided by call volume. Rutledge said the county could lose as much as $100,000, but nothing is set in stone.

“So is the money coming from the old formula?” asked Joe Cappuzzello, Salem’s director of safety and city services.

Rutledge said the county is still receiving money under the old formula, but it is not known how much. Weigle said questions have been directed to the Ohio Department of Taxation about how the county receives its allocation, but there has been no response.

The 911 funding includes a 50-cent monthly fee for a county landline that voters approved, as well as a 25-cent monthly fee for wireless devices that is set to increase.

Weigle previously explained that he, Rutledge and County EMA Director Peggy Clark went to Columbus and argued for a monthly fee of 70 cents per wireless device to cover costs. Unfortunately, when the bill reached the state senate, the fee was lowered to 40 cents per wireless device, and the percentage of that fee each county receives was lowered to 72 percent. That means they’ll see an increase of maybe 3 cents per wireless device, and that’s not enough to centralize operations in one 911 center, which was discussed.

The county’s 911 system includes five Public Safety Answering Points (PSAPs) and the county’s Emergency Management Agency as a backup call-taking location. The PSAPs include the county sheriff’s office and the Salem, Columbiana, East Liverpool and East Palestine police departments.

The Program Review Committee is comprised of Weigle, Sheriff Brian McLaughlin, Salem Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey, St. Clair Borough Trustee James Sabatini, Madison Borough Trustee Wayne Chamberlain and East Liverpool City Councilman Jeff Kreefer.

In other business, Rutledge provided updates on the Rapid SOS Emergency Response Date platform, the transition to Solacom call software, which has been pushed back to November, and securing new recorders for PSAPS. He said 911 continues to receive information that the state will have funds to cover the costs.

Salem Police Chief JT Panezott asked about language translation for the emergency response data platform, specifically Guatemalan. Weigle said the translator is set up for voice calls, not text messages. Rutledge said he will follow up on the question.

At the end of the meeting, Rutledge asked everyone in attendance to complete a survey about threats the county faces and concerns about those threats, including cyber incidents, hazardous materials incidents, extreme weather events and more.

EMA is working on updating the county’s threat mitigation plan.

The next 911 meeting is scheduled for November 7 at 1:00 p.m.

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