According to the Public Service Commission of West Virginia, a portion of this fee funds the 911 emergency services for each county in West Virginia.
To operate their enhanced emergency telephone systems, county commissioners derive revenue from two different sources — enhanced 911 fees from customers of local exchange service and voice over internet protocol (VoIP) service, as well as wireless enhanced 911 fees.
The Public Service Commission retains none of the fees and distributes the monies received according to specific instructions contained in state law.
The PSC said $1 million is placed in a fund each year to subsidize the construction of wireless towers, and 10 cents of the amount collected per subscriber is distributed to the West Virginia State Police to be used for equipment upgrades for improving and integrating their communications efforts with those of the enhanced 911 systems.
The PSC said 5 percent of the wireless enhanced fees received are deposited in a special fund established by the Division of Homeland Security and Emergency Management to be used solely for the construction, maintenance and upgrade of the West Virginia Interoperable Radio Project.
The remainder of the money is distributed to the counties according to the formula set forth in West Virginia Code.
According to state law, the PSC is required to conduct an audit of the wireless enhanced 911 fee every other year. If the weighted average of the enhanced 911 fees exceeds the $3 per month wireless E-911 fee, the wireless E-911 fee must be increased to the weighted average of the enhanced 911 fees, but never increased more than 25 percent of the wireless E-911 fee.
Commission rules provide that if it is necessary for the Commission to recalculate the wireless fee, the new fee would take effect July 1 of the respecification year.
More information is available on the PSC website, psc.state.wv.us, by referencing General Order 187.50.
— Email: wholdren@register-herald.com and follow on Twitter @WendyHoldren
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