LIBERTY - Closing the township's 911 center and moving services to Trumbull County would relieve the township of a financial burden, but it also could result in lower pay for the affected workers, according to officials.
While no agreement has been made, shifting to Trumbull County 911 would cost Liberty $42,000 a year compared to the current $300,000 it is spending.
Trumbull County 911 director Ernie Cook said he has made a tentative offer to hire all four Liberty dispatchers to work at the county's Howland facility.
"The agreement so far is that the county would hire our four dispatchers and hire them at a higher rate as experienced, but not at the same rate they are currently making," Liberty trustee Stan Nudell said.
Cook said dispatchers hired to work at Howland would start at the experienced entry rate of $15.72 an hour. All four also would forgo two to three months of benefits and insurance before their county coverage takes effect.
As of Jan. 1, all four dispatchers were paid $17.77 per hour by the township. That would rise to $18.13 per hour on Jan. 1, 2013.
Liberty officials say rising costs are the reason they are considering the switch.
The township 911 center is operating on a 1.25-mill levy passed in 2008, but officials say they cannot afford to maintain the facility at that rate with its current costs. Costs have risen nearly $20,000 in two years, including the cost of dispatchers' salaries, which increased as a result of recent collective bargaining.
Township administrator Pat Ungaro said labor is the "majority of the cost" in running the dispatch center.
"I think they do a great job, but if you want to keep it, you have increase the millage, period," he said. The millage rate would be increased to at least 1.5 mills and as high as 1.75 mills, he said.
Dispatchers and the public have been outspoken in their opposition to the plan and claim trustees are not heeding their opinions. A standing-room only crowd packed a recent trustee meeting to make its feelings known.
''The people of Liberty want to vote on this,'' resident Carol Faustino said at the meeting. ''If they vote it down, it's the people's choice.''
A dispatcher union representative could not be reached for comment, but dispatcher Marissa Migliozzi said her group only wants the residents to have a voice and the issue is not about salaries.
"We're not trying to focus on wages or anything like that. We're not trying to belittle the county dispatchers. We just want the public to have the opportunity to vote for or against us," she said.
For the administration, however, the decision seems simple.
"I believe in regionalism," Ungaro said. "If I can save the taxpayers $250,000 and you're only going five miles away and no one's losing their jobs and you're in the same union, first-grade math can figure that out."
Ungaro said the operating costs are $300,000 and the levy only generates $270,000. He also said the dispatch center would also have to consider the cost of equipment upgrades. He said the existing equipment cost $150,000 and they still owe $60,000 on it.
Ungaro said the township met Thursday with dispatchers and police to discuss costs, labor, jobs "and the whole thing and it went really, really good, it was a successful meeting."