Helen Rasmussen, director of Skagit 911, negotiated a deal with the Emergency Management Council that increases user fees for police and fire departments, and allows the dispatch center to set aside money for equipment upgrades and maintenance.
The council has representation from the county and from the county’s eight cities and towns.
Police and fire departments agreed to pay an extra $450,000 in 2017 to meet the needs of the center. The contributions of law enforcement agencies will increase by 39 percent, with fire contributions increasing by 31 percent.
“It’s a huge burden for the cities,” Rasmussen said. “However, when it came down to it, they all supported it.”
Jill Boudreau, mayor of Mount Vernon and a member of the council, said the council saw the additional investment in Skagit 911 as necessary.
The dispatch center’s need for new equipment was demonstrated during the Sept. 23 shooting at Cascade Mall.
Skagit 911 fielded 675 calls — more than four times its normal rate for a Friday evening — and coordinated communication between all the emergency response agencies.
Rasmussen said she brought in additional dispatchers, but didn’t have the available consoles for them to help out, leaving some callers with busy signals.
“You never want a busy signal when you call 911,” she said.
Skagit 911 received about $12.70 — the current rate for an agency response to an emergency call — for all it did in response to the shooting.
“Twelve dollars does not cover all the work we do,” Rasmussen said.
If the center had additional consoles and more floor space to accommodate them, Rasmussen said it could have better handled the incident.
With the new agreement, Skagit 911 will be paid enough money to meet its budget regardless of how many calls come in.
Police departments now pay a share determined by the number of calls an agency generates and by the number of officers they employ, with each contributing a percentage of the necessary funding. Fire departments pay based on a formula that accounts for calls and assessed values of property in their jurisdiction.
Since police use about 70 percent of 911’s resources, they will cover about 70 percent of the bill, Rasmussen said. Under the old system, fire paid more than its share.
The new funding model comes with a 30-year infrastructure improvement plan that details when the center will need upgrades and how they will be paid for. By setting aside some of its tax revenue, the center will be able to fund many of these improvements.
The speed at which technology improves and the finicky nature of electronics mean most of the center’s equipment is obsolete in five to seven years, Rasmussen said.
As a separate investment, the center expects to install a new $500,000 phone system in May, which will bring more consoles and the potential for the center to take text messages.
The center had to borrow money for the project, but that money will be paid back through the money that is now being put aside.
“We literally have a falling phone system,” Rasmussen said.
Skagit 911 funding generated by a 0.1 percent sales tax increase approved by voters in 2004 was supposed to go to 911 infrastructure improvements, but was instead used to subsidize operations. The costs to police and fire agencies were cut, and 911 was left with a limited budget ever since, Rasmussen said.
With the new agreement, costs to agencies will continue to increase annually for about 10 years, though not at the rate they will for 2017, she said.
“This is a very slow turn to bring user fees back up to where they need to be,” Rasmussen said.
As part of the agreement, Skagit 911 transitioned into a nonprofit organization, which Boudreau said won’t change the center’s operations or governance, but will open it up to potential grant opportunities.
©2017 the Skagit Valley Herald (Mount Vernon, Wash.) Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
