Henderson Co. finds a new way to fund emergency dispatch - 14 News, WFIE, Evansville, Henderson, Owensboro

Henderson Co. finds a new way to fund emergency dispatch

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Posted by Kenneth Douglass - bio | email

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In Henderson County, money to run the 911 Call Center comes from fees on land line phone bills and smaller fees on cell phone bills.

But with more and more people making the switch from land line to cell phones, city officials are considering a different option for funding.

Mayor Steve Austin says one option would be placing the $2.50 911 emergency fee on water bills instead of phone bills.

Austin says right now, a $2.50 charge per month is assigned to each land line and after state fees are taken out, the 911 center only gets about 43-cents per month per cell line.

Austin tells us it costs nearly $1-million per year to run the emergency call center. He says in the past few years, the number of people dialing 911 from a cell phone has increased significantly.

This option, presented before a city-council cooperative study committee would make the fees fair for everyone.

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