Stoddard County voters to decide on sales tax for 911 services

Kyle Dare never considered disconnecting from a landline meant he would be part of a growing number of people in Stoddard County who do not pay for 911 communication services.

“The fact that I’m not paying for that right now is a little troubling,” Dare said.

Dare, the superintendent of Puxico schools, was part of a citizens advisory committee that approved a sales-tax initiative for the April 5 ballot in Stoddard County. The initiative also was approved by the Stoddard County Commission.

If approved by the voters, the initiative would nullify a tax on landline phone bills and replace it with a 3/16-cent sales-tax increase, or 19 cents on a $100 purchase, according to 911 administrator Carol Moreland.

“It’s not very much,” citizens advisory committee member William Kane said. “It is misunderstood because it involves the t-word.”

Moreland said the 911 budget, funded entirely through a landline tax, has been reduced nearly in half from 1995, when it started. In 1995, the tax brought in $400,000. But in 2015, that total was down to $255,640. Moreland said only 15 percent of about 30,000 people in Stoddard County use a landline. Businesses pay a large portion of the budget because a tax of 15 percent of the base bill applies to each phone. Kane said moving to a sales tax would affect small businesses positively.

A sales tax would bring in between $480,000 and $520,000 if sales stay at their current rate, Moreland said.

With 911 funded through landlines, 911 services would be unable to afford upgrades for equipment. Stoddard County Ambulance operates the 911 communications through a contract, but 911 Services still provides and maintains the communications equipment. A recent upgrade for 911 answering equipment cost $139,000, paid with a federal grant, Moreland said. An upgrade to a recorder cost $38,000, also paid with a federal grant, Moreland said. Moreland estimates an equipment upgrade in 2017 will cost $200,000.

Dexter, Missouri, fire chief Don Seymore said he hopes for an upgrade in the near future that would give better locations for cellphones.

When someone calls 911 from a landline, dispatchers can pinpoint an address based on the number. From a cellphone, the best responders can hope for is a five-mile radius around the caller. Because of this, Seymore said residents in rural locations can be difficult to find.

“It could be an automobile accident; they don’t know exactly where they’re at,” he said. “They could give us a county road number, but some of the county roads go all the way across the county, 20 to 30 miles.”

Stoddard County 911 services also are financially responsible for replacing road signs to maintain emergency preparedness and provide 200 map booklets for emergency responders. Moreland is 911 services’ only employee.

If voters do not approve the initiative, the effect could be disastrous, Kane said. Such services likely would be transferred to a call center in a neighboring county, Kane said.

“Nobody knows Stoddard County like Stoddard County people,” he said.

Dare said a communications problem could have lasting implications if there was an emergency at a Puxico school.

“Every second counts,” he said.

bkleine@semissourian.com

(573) 388-3644

Pertinent address: 512 Cooper St., Dexter, Mo