Alexander County 911 - to - be

[guest]

On September 25, 1975 the State of Illinois passed legislation giving oversight authority of 911 systems in the state to the Illinois Commerce Commission. From this point on the 911 programs purpose has been to administer the implementation and upgrading of 911 systems by municipalities and counties across the state.

It appears in Nov 1996, Alexander County voters passed a referendum approving the $ 3 surcharge. I don't remember voting myself a tax increase, do you?

Starting with the BOTTOM LINE - it appears we do not have a "911 system". And, it appears we have been paying,(since 1996 - 13 years?) a $ 3 a month surcharge on all our phone bills for a system that doesn't exist.

“Recent legislation:

Each county that imposes a surcharge must establish an EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM BOARD and one commissioner must sit on the board.
That board is responsible for planning the system, coordinating and supervising setup and maintenance of the system, deposit surcharge into an interest-bearing EMERGENCY TELEPHONE SYSTEM FUND, authorize disbursements and HIRE STAFF.”

So what went wrong in Alexander County? Who served on the board from 1996 to 2009? Who was on the board when the last employee did whatever he did that led to his departure?

Continue reading the legislation and I think we find our answer. There are loopholes. The money can be used for other emergency-preparedness purposes.

Is that why Alexander County is one of only a few counties in the state without a 911 system? How has the money been used for the last 13 years? We know how it hasn't been used.

[Interested]

I've never really understood why calling 911 is considered more effective than calling your local police, fire or ambulance service directly. Is it just the convenience of remembering one number?

If the money is being spent to improve actual service and not on just a building and separate phone lines, then there really doesn't seem to be a problem. However, if the money is going to pay for something not being utilized, I can see your concern.

[helpful]

There, there dear, don’t despair. Some of us need training wheels for our minds. I have read some of your posts and I see it is hard for you to understand a lot of things.

Please let me help you understand this. Say, you are driving to visit your son in Olive Branch and you have an accident and are laying unconscious beside your car down the ravine. And say, a young couple driving to visit their parents in Alabama see the accident occur. And say, they do not know what city or county they are in. And say, they do not carry phone books with them for each city and county they pass through on their trip. And say, time is a factor in your survival. Does that help you understand why having a universally understood number like 911 around the country makes sense? Does it make sense to you if YOUR life depended on it?

How many times have lives been saved because a parent taught their child to dial 911?

Well, some of our lives could depend on having a 911 system in our county and it looks like we have been paying for it for 13 years! Sounds like guest is trying to say that the question for those of us who live here is,“Has this been someone’s slush fund for 13 years?”.

[Interested]

LOL, you are just so funny it boggles the mind. But, then, when a mind is as boggled as mine to begin with, that really isn't hard.

But, let's see, if a young couple driving to visit their parents in Alabama see me laying beside the road and call 911, I sure hope I don't have to wait for a response from Alexander County. Gulf Shores is a long, long way away. And if you meant to say we were in Alexander County, I'm fairly sure I wouldn't have to worry about any tourists finding me....haven't you pointed out that tourists avoid Alexander County?

Now let's go to the part about children calling 911...teach them to punch in the O for operator and ask for emergency services. You'd be surprised how efficient those long distance operators are. Unless, of course, you only have a cell phone...and then you may not even be paying your $3.00 for a local 911 service.

And, isn't it true that no matter who you call, your calls are handled through TriCo. That was the most recent word I had about emergency services in the area. Considering the financial situation in the tri-county area, it really made sense to me once I bothered to consider all angles. As was pointed out there are loop-holes to the 911 law. Not having enough income may very well be one of those.

Not, of course, that I would ever presume to be as intelligent as you, and certainly not as close to the situation as you so as to be able to walk into the county and city offices and ask for first-hand information.

[Interested]

And, another fact you might consider as to why 911 may not be the most affordable option for the county is the fact that 3.00 doesn't go as far in 2009 as it did when the charge was first voted in.

Your dollar has lost about 38 percent of its value since 1992.

Smaller population, fewer land lines, devalued dollar = less actual money available.

[essie]

cell phones are included in that also.

[essie]

the 911 calls are handled by the cairo police department. this was the way it was set up in 1992. Why Cairo was chosen, I do not know. Tri county does not answer 911 calls, nor does the sheriff's office. The sheriff handles only their calls during the day. The county does have a 911 system. Some of you need to get a life or get out in the world more.

[Interested]

essie wrote:

cell phones are included in that also.

Essie, if I use a disposable cell phone I picked up at Walmart in Cape and I use my employers Missouri address, does that three dollar charge apply to that cell phone? There are smaller, per call, charges that I understand can be applied in some cases but how would the three dollar charge be alloted? In other words, how does the money get where it needs to go?

[Interested]

essie wrote:

the 911 calls are handled by the cairo police department. this was the way it was set up in 1992. Why Cairo was chosen, I do not know. Tri county does not answer 911 calls, nor does the sheriff's office. The sheriff handles only their calls during the day. The county does have a 911 system. Some of you need to get a life or get out in the world more.

apparently we cross posted. Thank you. The original poster leads us to believe that 911 is non-existant.

However, doesn't 911 include ambulance, police and fire calls for the entire county? We have been told at some point that the information is then relayed to Trico who does the actual dispatching. As I must admit,since some of the posters make it appear services are non-existent and our information may be incorrect, it would be good to know what the real facts for Alexander County and Cairo are.

[guest]

http://www.icc.illinois.gov/911/

State site updated Oct 2008

There are apples and there are oranges.

The fact that the city police answer the 911 phone calls does not equate to a surcharge-funded county 911 system. Looking at the 2007 county FS, it does not appear the county is paying the city to answer the calls. It also does not appear that having the city answer the phone is their “plan”.

The 2007 FS show a fund balance of $ 491,304.

$ 400,000 had been budgeted for equipment and only $ 11289 spent.

Revenue $ 118473
Payroll 28471
PR Taxes 4923 (appears high)
Travel 300
Office Supplies 926
Telephone 2253
Rent ? 333
Fuel & Oil 1612
Utilities 2493
Mapping 8556
Gen’l Liability 2532
Medical Insurance 16255
Memberships 1046
Public Relations/Education 4468 (??)
Contract Fees 12000 (pmt to city??)
Consulting Fees 11000
Board Meeting Expenses 1811 (what could this be?)
Miscellaneous 5494 (unacceptable % of costs)

[skor14me]

Payroll $28,471.00
Medical Insurance $16,255.00 ? Wow we paid almost 57% of what the payroll was for insurance? That seems high to me.

Yes I think the city does get $1,000.00 a month to answer the phones but has the County paid the city?

Board meeting expenses sounds like dinners/snacks.

Don't know why they would have so many miscellaneous expenses.

[concerned]

It is to my understanding that all calls on the weekend are handled by the Illinois State Police. The also have someone who can take your complaint against the city or county officers. They are required by law to investigate all complaints.

[Interested]

Skor, looking at the salary and insurance categories, I thought salary looked low considering that 911 should be a 24 hour, 7 day-a-week, 52 week-a-year function. Paying the city only $1000 a month must seem like a God-send. But, as you pointed out, that expense doesn't seem to be evident.

Where does the Board meet? Do they pay rent for the space which could explain the $1811. Surely the members would provide their own snacks, meals or whatever. Miscellaneous expenses do have a way of building up. It's just easier than having a long list of things you don't know how to categorize or which would require a bunch of rarely used accounts.

[essie]

Interested wrote:

<quoted text>
apparently we cross posted. Thank you. The original poster leads us to believe that 911 is non-existant.
However, doesn't 911 include ambulance, police and fire calls for the entire county? We have been told at some point that the information is then relayed to Trico who does the actual dispatching. As I must admit,since some of the posters make it appear services are non-existent and our information may be incorrect, it would be good to know what the real facts for Alexander County and Cairo are.

911 calls include fire, ambulance and police. Trico does not dispatch. Services do exist. If you live in the county, you have to know this.

[essie]

concerned wrote:

It is to my understanding that all calls on the weekend are handled by the Illinois State Police. The also have someone who can take your complaint against the city or county officers. They are required by law to investigate all complaints.

cairo has twenty four hour dispatching, seven days a week. You can call the state police if you desire, your choice. But Cairo handles emergency calls. Usually state police refers the caller to the county sheriff, etc.

[essie]

Interested wrote:

<quoted text>
Essie, if I use a disposable cell phone I picked up at Walmart in Cape and I use my employers Missouri address, does that three dollar charge apply to that cell phone? There are smaller, per call, charges that I understand can be applied in some cases but how would the three dollar charge be alloted? In other words, how does the money get where it needs to go?

my guess is that the state collects, sends the money to the county, which then passes this money to 911 which has a board, which meets in Cairo.

[the way I see it]

in alexander county, if you call 911, sometimes your call goes to state police, sometimes it goes to cairo police department. if it goes to the state, they transfer the call to cairo police department. cpd dispatches for police, sheriff, ambulance, and, fire. trico is a jail and only a jail, they do not dispatch or take 911 calls.

[Interested]

essie wrote:

<quoted text>
my guess is that the state collects, sends the money to the county, which then passes this money to 911 which has a board, which meets in Cairo.

That would be the assumption I suppose. Which still makes me wonder how much the local 911 is missing due to the flexibility of cell phone procurement. And how does the aforementioned $3.00 get billed to those phones. Wasn't that a local #3.00. I only pay 30 some-odd cents a month.

[guest]

I understood the $28,471.00 was for one person but might be wrong. Sorry Interested but $5,494.00 in miscellaneous does seem excessive. You already have phone, utilities (water/NG/ electric), travel, office supplies, fuel & oil for car, rent so what else would they need? Lunches, hotel rooms for travel?

[Interested]

guest wrote:

I understood the $28,471.00 was for one person but might be wrong. Sorry Interested but $5,494.00 in miscellaneous does seem excessive. You already have phone, utilities (water/NG/ electric), travel, office supplies, fuel & oil for car, rent so what else would they need? Lunches, hotel rooms for travel?

LOL. you're possibly right. I read it as $494. A quick look at the receipts posted to the account might give an explanation. Surely, those are available.