Livingston County voters will decide if a 3/8 of 1 percent sales tax will be collected to support central dispatching for emergency services.
Thursday morning, the Livingston County Commission passed a resolution to place a “9-1-1 Central Dispatch Sales Tax” on the August 5th ballot.
When Chillicothe and Livingston County combined their 911 operations thirteen years ago, the funding was through a land line phone tax with the remainder split between the City and County, based on population. Under that agreement, the city paid 63% of the expenses not covered by the land line phone tax.
With the number of land lines decreasing, the funding has also been dropping, and the land line phone tax now covers just over 10% of the ongoing cost.
After lengthy discussion and review, both the City and the County agreed to submit to the voters a 3/8th of 1% sales tax for a separate Central Dispatch for Emergency Services.
If approved, this tax would replace the land line fee and is expected to produce $1,125,000 per year which would cover an expected first year budget of $1,023,000 plus provide funds to be set aside to upgrade the system to the latest upgrades periodically.
This structure using the County-level Sales tax dedicated to 9-1-1 allows for a seven-member board to be appointed by the County Commission, made up initially without regard to party affiliation, who shall be selected and who shall represent the fire protection districts, ambulance districts, sheriff’s department, police department, municipalities and other emergency services and the general public. After the initial appointment, the Board members shall thereafter be elected by the pubic in staggered four-year terms.
The ballot language for the August ballot is as follows:
Shall the county of Livingston impose a county sales tax of three-eighths (3/8) of one percent for the purpose of providing central dispatching of fire protection, emergency ambulance service, including emergency telephone services, and other emergency services?
As this is a new sales tax and to provide additional details, Presiding Commission Ed Douglas spoke about the issue.
