Hailey officials say they are facing a sudden and expensive ultimatum from the Blaine County Commission that could significantly reduce law enforcement and emergency response capabilities within the city.
The city has been told it must pay $250,000 by October 1st to continue being a part of the county's new E-911 consolidated dispatch service, or lose the ability for police to make routine background checks, and provide adequate safety for police officers in the field.
"This will also hinder investigations," said Police Chief Jeff Gunter at a city council meeting Monday. "We will not be able to check for outstanding warrants, make criminal background checks on employees or make status calls on officers working in the field.
"9-11 calls often escalate," he said. "We will not have the ability to monitor them after the dispatch has been made, only to listen in."
Gunter said that if dispatch services are reduced to the levels county administrator Mike McNees has recommended, the county dispatchers will decide which Hailey calls are emergencies and refer those which are not to the police department's telephone line. Gunter said the answering machine at the police department would have to be periodically checked by officers after office hours.
"This will make our services unprofessional," he said.
The city council and mayor have met twice with county commissioners in the past week to work out an alternative to the E-911 funding request, which they say was sprung on the city without warning.
"The county never made a formal presentation; this is the biggest shock in the world," said Martha Burke, who was present when former county commissioner Sarah Michael first presented the E-911 dispatch upgrade plan six years ago.
The council and mayor expressed a desire to remain within the system Monday night, but cited a 10 percent cut in the city budget already, and the possibility of having to lay off five full-time emergency personnel positions within the city to pay for the new service.
The E-911 dispatch service, which includes GPS mapping and enhanced location capabilities, went into effect in December and is housed at the new Blaine County jail in Hailey. All cities in the county, as well as the county emergency services, are being assessed fees based on the proportion of emergency calls coming from them each year.
Hailey city attorney Ned Williamson said Monday the county has supplied the cities in Blaine County with 24/7 dispatch services for years, and that a new fee for city residents would amount to a double tax on Hailey residents.
"I don't view this as a consolidation," he said. "I view dispatch as a county function."
Hailey mayor Rick Davis said that his city was being asked to pay for emergency dispatch consolidations, which have already taken place in Ketchum and Sun Valley.
Blaine county residents voted in 2002 to implement a $1 per telephone line, per month fee, which has so far raised $400,000 for the dispatch service. Hailey has requested that the county increase that fee through a ballot initiative, which could take a year before it goes into effect. So far there has been no response from the county.
Bob Greenlaw, the director of the new E-911 dispatch service, said that according to Idaho law, the $1 per month per line fee can only be spent on equipment and hardware. He said the Department of Homeland Security provided about $300,000 several years ago for hardware for the new service, which includes a complete back-up system for redundancy.
Greenlaw said the $250,000 the county expects from Hailey is for salaries and benefits for E-911 dispatchers. Bellevue was recently assessed $67,000 for its share of the dispatch services. The city only agreed to pay $18,000.
In addition to the request for a ballot initiative, Hailey officials are exploring the possibility of paying a portion of the requested amount to stay in the E-911 system.
"With no prior agreement, the county has told us that if we don't pay, they are going to cut our services," said councilman Fritz Haemmerle. "If they do, the blood of cutting off our dispatch will be on the county's hands."
Williamson was instructed Monday night to request a levy override initiative from the county to raise additional property taxes to fund the dispatch center. The levy would require a two-thirds majority vote in the county to pass and take a year to implement, said City Administrator Heather Dawson.
"The city's position is, 'no ballot measure, no funds from Hailey,'" she said.
E-911 emergency dispatch user's share by city:
Blaine County Sheriff $262,704
City of Bellevue $63,249
City of Carey $2,988
City of Hailey $257,679
City of Ketchum $222,779
City of Sun Valley $93,328
Wood River Fire and Rescue $25,462
Total: $928,189
