The Collegian

Issue date: 2/19/09 Section: News

Tuesday will determine if the cost of a 60-cent monthly surcharge outweighs the cost of human life when voters decide whether to increase telephone bills by that amount or forego county 911 service.

"If the vote fails, I expect in a very short period of time it would close up," Police Chief and Emergency Telephone Services Board Chairman Brian Corbett said.

If Emergency Telephone Services goes under, dialing 911 will do nothing. Instead, all emergency calls will be directed to a specific location and department depending on the type of emergency and its location.

Then, Corbett said, calls will go directly to his office phone rather than through a dispatcher. He said he is often out of the office and would unavoidably miss emergency calls, and can't afford to hire someone to answer his phone in case of an emergency call.

Under such circumstances, Corbett and Boje said, the county's emergency services would lose essential moments.

"It's about saving lives here," Boje said. "To have a dispatcher answer that call." Hillsdale's Deputy Chief of Police Bill Whorley agreed wholeheartedly: "I want my emergency handled in an expeditious manner."

Currently, Hillsdale County residents are paying a surcharge of $1.20 per month in order to cover the costs of 911, Corbett said. Tuesday's proposal will raise the cost to $2.25 in order to account for the significant debt ($110, 538.74) racked up by the ETS.

Every month has increased the service's debt by an estimated $20,000 during the $1.20 per month surcharge.

Hillsdale County's general fund is currently paying the service's debt, which is not a sustainable situation, Corbett said.

The ETSB earlier recommended to the Michigan legislature a $1.80 per month surcharge, said ETSB member Cindy Boje. The final legislation lowered that price by 60 cents, causing the current debt.

"Technically, what we're doing is we're requesting to replace what the legislation wiped away," Boje said of the proposed surcharge raise.

According to Corbett, this increase in the surcharge will cover the fees necessary to keep the service available and, hopefully, pay off the standing debt within two years.

"All this is intended to do is fund day-to-day operations," he said. He added that when the debt is paid off, they can consider lowering the cost again.

An independent entity cannot take control of the emergency services, Corbett said.

"No one has the kind of money it takes to take over this operation," he said.

Whorley doesn't want to have to remember a seven-digit number the next time he needs emergency assistance. And, well, he doesn't want to speak for them, but he doesn't think everyone else does either.

Corbett pled to the voters: get out and vote.

"911 is too important to let go," he said.

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