That is the finding of a new study presented Tuesday afternoon to Cape May County freeholders and a room full of municipal officials and first responders from the towns.
The study by the firm Intertech Associates Inc. is the second on the subject. One conducted in 2008 failed to draw enough interest from the county's 16 municipalities, which currently use 12 separate dispatching networks.
This One has Drawn Interest
"My opinion is we move forward," Lower Township Mayor Mike Beck said after the presentation."We have to consider where we can save money for taxpayers. I think the savings are significant. There are a lot of questions but nothing that throws a roadblock in the process. There's financial savings, efficiencies and also the increase in public safety."
Middle Township Mayor Tim Donohue said he liked the possibility of lowering the local tax rate but suggested it start with just fire and emergency medical services, possibly incorporating police in the future.
"I think there's a lot of moving parts but a potential for big savings for a town our size," Donohue said.
One problem he sees is dealing with union and civil service workers who could lose their jobs. The 12 dispatch centers now have 59 full-time dispatchers, three supervisors and 40 part-time workers, said Lisa Weinthal, vice president of Intertech Associates.
They handled 427,000 calls in 2012, but many were administrative. There were only 75,000 emergency 911 calls.
Weinthal said the system currently costs $6.5 million per year, including $4 million in labor costs with 12 labor contracts covering them.
Weinthal said major inefficiencies come in winter, when the 12 centers are staffed but there are few calls due to the seasonal nature of the county's tourism economy. She said the dispatch centers are busy just 0.005 percent of the time in February, compared with a busy summer month when it is 1.6 percent of the time. She said many of them need technology upgrades that would come with a new center. She noted there would always be more than one dispatcher on duty, which meets National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) guidelines.
Weinthal did not give a figure on employment at a new central dispatch facility but did supply comparative data on one that would include Cape May County and six towns -- Avalon, Stone Harbor, Wildwood, West Wildwood, Middle Township and Lower Township. They would go from 31 to 13 full-time workers and 24 to eight part-timers. Yearly savings would be more than $1.5 million for the participants but would increase if more towns join. Weinthal suggested discounts for early joiners and penalties for those joining later.
After the meeting, County Emergency Management Coordinator Marty Pagliughi said attrition and other jobs within government could be used to solve the employment issue. Pagliughi said the next step is to form a committee to move the process forward.
"It's not a question of if. It's a question of when. It's got to be done. The first study in 2008 didn't push it. Now it will get the interest it deserves," Pagliughi said.
The report envisions a new 6,000-square-foot facility that would cost $2.55 million, either built at the new Cape May County Corrections Center being planned for Crest Haven or at the existing county library branch in Cape May Court House. Donohue, however, said he opposes any attempt to relocate the library. The county would be in charge of operations.
The meeting also disclosed there could be bigger savings for the towns but that New Jersey is commandeering money earmarked for dispatch costs. Weinthal said taxes on phones, cell and hard lines are used to pay for central dispatch in many states. The tax in New Jersey used to go to dispatch efforts, but Pagliughi said since 2009 New Jersey has directed all of these taxes to the general fund.
"Every cell and hard line through a New Jersey carrier pays this fee," Weinthal said.
Freeholder Director Jerry Thornton asked Weinthal for the dollar amount. She said the state keeps that information "hush-hush." Thornton directed Pagliughi to get that information for the board.
"We'll do some research on that," Pagliughi said.
Weinthal said a low volume of fire calls in the county, just 4,300 in 2012, leads to inconsistencies in how dispatch handles them. Weinthal said there is a "fear of change" but the opportunities in this case outweigh the concerns.
"You optimize budgets, resources and the technology. Standards for dispatch and dispatch training come into compliance with NFPA, and there is potential for tremendous savings throughout the county," she said.
Weinthal presented a number of different options, from full participation to partial consolidations of services linking neighboring towns. She also presented different ways to distribute savings to the towns, such as by population or call volume.
Pagliughi said just using the county's existing microwave tower would save as much as $3 million. Avalon, where Pagliughi is mayor, recently merged dispatch with Stone Harbor and both towns are saving almost $190,000 per year.
"We're going to take this report and make a lot of decisions with the towns," Thornton said.
©2014 The Press of Atlantic City (Pleasantville, N.J.)
