Jefferson County commissioners will consider approval of a telephone excise tax increase today.
Commissioners will consider the tax hike after a public hearing at 10:15 a.m. in the commissioners’ meeting room at the Jefferson County Courthouse, 1820 Jefferson St.
If it is approved, the tax would be increased beginning Jan. 1 from 50 cents to 70 cents per land line or cell phone monthly.
It also would add the excise tax to interconnected Voice over Internet Protocol service lines, which are not now subject to the 70-cent-per-month excise tax.
The tax would add $2.40 annually to the taxes for each land line and cell phone, and $8.40 annually for each VoIP line, for both residences and businesses.
The state has required counties to pass the tax increase or pay a penalty. The state will withhold matching funds to emergency dispatch centers in any counties that do not pass the tax hike, beginning Jan. 1.
The JeffCom administrative board — which is made up of county, city and fire district representatives — has recommended that the county commissioners approve the tax hike, county Administrator Philip Morley said.
Clallam County approved the tax Sept. 28 in a 2-1 vote, with Commissioner Mike Chapman dissenting, saying the tax increase was “not fair to the public.”
Incorporate text, video
The tax will fund Next Generation 9-1-1 improvements, resulting in a system that will incorporate text and video into emergency service.
“The Next Generation 9-1-1 service has many important aspects,” said Janet Silvus, director of the Jefferson County 9-1-1 center.
“It will allow people to send text, photographs and video to us, in the cases where they are in a situation when they are unable to talk,” she said.
With the new system, a person in a bank during a robbery could send a video from a cell phone to law enforcement officials to apprise them of the situation and bring it to a faster resolution.
Silvus said that people are willing to do this, given the danger.
“During the Virginia Tech shooting, there were a lot of people who were taking video and sending it to their friends, who sent it to police,” she said.
“With Next Generation 9-1-1, they could have been feeding the information directly.”
The state acted after the federal Department of Transportation’s Intelligent Transportations Systems program created the Next Generation 9-1-1 Initiative for public emergency communications services in a wireless mobile society.
The initiative is international; it is intended to improve emergency service in both the United States and Canada.
Personal stake
Silvus, who took over the $64,726-a-year job as leader of the emergency dispatch center Aug. 9, has a personal interest in seeing the upgrades put into place.
“My dad is hard of hearing and he doesn’t use the telephone, but with Next Generation 9-1-1, he will be able to text his medical needs to 9-1-1 if he has a stroke or a heart attack,” Silvus said.
“If he has this option, I will be able to sleep better at night because he will get help when he needs it.”
Silvus lives in Port Townsend, and her father lives in Missouri.
But her personal concern underscores the importance of her mission, which is to oversee the installation of the equipment that will make emergency services more efficient throughout Jefferson County.
Aside from laying the groundwork for the implementation of Next Generation 9-1-1, Silvus is involved in restructuring the radio tower network to make it more efficient and replacing the antiquated computer-aided dispatch — or CAD — system.
Currently, law enforcement officers must switch between channels from one tower to another as they travel throughout the county.
A microwave system, which could cost around $2.4 million, could fix that.
The new system would be funded by money originating from a 2007 bond issue, Silvus said.
The 7-year-old CAD system is unreliable and has crashed several times, Silvus said, adding she hopes it will be replaced before a crash occurs during a severe emergency.
She said the type of new CAD system is being determined now. That will define the cost.
9-1-1 functions
The 9-1-1 center has five monitors per dispatcher and a range of complicated functions.
The location of a call can be pinpointed, either from land line records or cell phone triangulation.
Dispatchers can graphically assign officers to incidents and immediately call up motor vehicle records for a car that has been pulled over for a traffic violation.
The center employs 11 dispatchers, who cover calls around the clock two at a time, though there are four available workstations.
Silvus, 48, was most recently the detention administrator in Independence, Mo.
“It’s good to have someone with Janet’s level of professionalism in this position,” said Jefferson County Sheriff Tony Hernandez.
“She will be an asset to the county and help to usher Jefferson County into the next level of technology for its 9-1-1 systems.”
Hernandez served as 9-1-1 director for almost a year, filling in for Donna Hamlin, who left in September 2009.
The Next Generation 9-1-1 systems could be installed in Jefferson County as early as next year.
The state will collect the tax. Installing the system and providing training for the systems statewide is estimated to cost $12,254,490. It would be completed by 2014, according to a report to the Washington Enhanced 9-1-1 Advisory Committee.
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Jefferson County Reporter Charlie Bermant can be reached at 360-385-2335 or charlie.bermant@peninsuladailynews.com.
