Lawmaker prefiles bill to allow Jackson public-safety tax vote

A push to secure more funding for Jackson's emergency services is officially underway as state Rep. Donna Lichtenegger has prefiled a bill on behalf of the city to be considered early next year.

The bill would allow Jackson to bring a public-safety tax to Jackson residents for a vote, which current state law forbids.

Lichtenegger (R-Jackson) said getting more funding for the city's first responders is necessary because its population continues to grow.

"Our fire department and our police department are in the same building, and there's not enough room in that building," she said. "I've worked closely with the police department, and I know this is something that we really, really need."

Lichtenegger said the measure likely will pass, but while the city is a step closer to better funding, Cape Girardeau County officials say its need for emergency-services funds remains serious.

Richard Knaup, Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management director, said the county's 911 funding continues to dwindle.

As residents drop their landline telephone service, the county loses out on tax surcharges that fund the county's 911 service.

"Our taxing income over the last several years has been dropping 4 to 5 or 6 percent each year," he said.

The most recent yearly figures, he said, show a 7 percent drop.

Knaup said the yearly drop from 2015 to 2016 in terms of the system's cash-on-hand is just over $24,000.

And the county's 911 operation isn't cheap, he said.

"Computers, maps, things of that nature, are all technology-run software and not a cheap thing in this county at all," he said.

The city of Jackson also has begun talks with county officials to explore consolidating their dispatch operations.

"Both the sheriff and police chief (James) Humphreys have said they don't want to build a dispatch center that starts out behind the times, but unfortunately 911 at the present time cannot assist them to do that," Knaup said. "We just do not have the funding. ... We're treading water just breaking even."

The last time the system was upgraded was 2012, said Cape Girardeau County Sheriff's Sgt. Zach Dillard.

From that point of March 2012 until the end of 2012, Dillard said the department received 6,382 calls from landlines -- comparable to the roughly 6,300 landline calls they received so far this year.

But, he said, they receive more calls from cellphones, which are harder to track.

"If it's a wireless call, a lot of times, we don't get any [location] information at all," Dillard said. "It's kind of a hit-or-miss thing because it relies on people knowing where they are. It's kind of a needle in a haystack."

Upgrades exist that would enable dispatchers to identify wireless callers' locations, but Knaup said those upgrades are out of the question at this time.

"The norm is that after four or five years, that technology is outdated, and we need to update it," he said. "There is absolutely no way we can update with the present revenues on-hand."

tgraef@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3627