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WARREN -- Trumbull County commissioners voted Wednesday to increase the cost for communities using Trumbull County 911 services by 10% per year for the next three years.
The annual increase was suggested last week by new Trumbull County 911 Director Tacy Bond to make up for an estimated 30% in revenue losses because of 911 not having any increases over the last decade, according to Bond. The proposal is for agencies to pay $7 for each service call based on 2022 run numbers, as well as the increase.
"(Bond) proposed and said 'I can do 10% now and at least that will get us started toward where we need to go,'" Commissioner Denny Malloy said. "We're looking at 10% per year over the next three years and that will bring us up to where we should be. And that just brings us even keel with the rest of the state. Right now, our workers are working twice as hard as any other dispatchers and they're getting paid a third less than any other dispatchers. And, their department, budget wise, is a third less than comparable sized counties."
Malloy said part of the reason commissioners hired Bond as director was to find such issues and help the county address them.
The 10% annual increases will affect all agencies that are provided county 911 services, except for Warren. The city's increase is projected to be 1.5% per service call based on the fact it provides the salary and benefits for six 911 dispatchers.
Trumbull County 911 provides emergency dispatching for 17 area police and fire departments and related emergency medical services.
Bond has suggested the increase could be a temporary step.
Commissioner Niki Frenchko voted against the increase. She pointed to departments in various townships, which she said would be financially strained by the raises.
"We have, definitely, a need to make sure our 911 services are covered," Frenchko said. "But at the same time, we saw some levies go down that are going to cause extreme hardships for some of the townships. I don't disagree that it should be increased at some level. But at the
same time, I think that the townships and the other communities should have been brought together to have some type of public meeting on the discussion relative to increasing these when some of these townships are in crisis."
Responding to Frenchko, Bond said the 911 final plan had an outline for handling increases, but the plan was not followed in the past.
"There wouldn't have been a need for this update or change," Bond said.
Frenchko said commissioners need to see what they can do "in house" to save money before approaching the townships.
In addition to the 10% increase for the majority of its member communities, Trumbull 911 also is seeking an increase for performing Warren city police dispatching.
Unlike the other communities serviced by the dispatch center, Warren's contract is done on a year-to-year basis, Bond said.
Malloy said the rate increase for Warren will be lower because the volume of the dispatch calls come from Warren, and the city has requested six dispatchers for itself alone, something that Trumbull 911 has not been able to provide.
"Warren isn't going to get the full 10%," Malloy said. "But 3% of a big watermelon is a lot better than 10% of a grape. Right now, Warren's calls equal the entire rest of the county's, all combined. If we just get a little piece of an increase from Warren, that'll help make up the difference."
Warren has paid $623,184 to Trumbull County annually since 2018 for its 911 services, according to Warren City Auditor Vince Flask. Under the new proposal, it will be charged $631,839 in 2024, an increase of $8,655.