911 tax

Before emergency responders can help you they have to find you. That's the premise behind a proposed 75-cent-per-month cell phone tax that would equip counties throughout the state with cell phone tracking technology. Currently in Missouri there are varying levels of service. Eighteen counties, according to a recent Associated Press article, have no local 911 service on landline phones much less cell phones.

Fifty percent of the counties lack the ability to track cell phone callers' locations at all. Twenty counties can pinpoint a caller's location. Others, like Cape Girardeau County, can only find a general area.

According to Richard Knaup, Cape Girardeau County's new emergency operations coordinator, the county is getting a hardware upgrade at its 911 call centers. The upgrade is being paid for by local 911 funds. However, before the county could pinpoint an exact location, individual cell towers would have to be upgraded. That's where the 75-cent statewide tax would come in handy, he said. He said the tax would help cell phone companies offset their costs.

He also said emergency cell phone calls coming from people who don't know their exact location happen more often than you might think.

The state's top public safety official advocated the new tax during a legislative committee meeting last week. Missouri voters have twice rejected a proposed cell phone tax for 911 services.

Missouri is the only state without a statewide fee or tax for wireless 911 service. As more Missourians become dependent on cell phones, they are likely to want the benefits of 911 tracking in an emergency. If so, they are likely to more favorable toward a tax to pay for the improved technology.