The Leelanau County Board of Commissioners this fall will be looking for ways to fund the county's 9-1-1 dispatch system that do not involve keeping in place all of the 1-mill property tax that voters narrowly approved last year.

Meanwhile, legislators in Lansing are struggling to come up an alternative way for citizens to pay for 9-1-1 services that can be applied statewide.

The extra-voted millage approved by Leelanau voters last year was expected to bring in nearly $2 million this year. Of that amount, some $1.2 million was set aside to help pay for operation of the county’s 9-1-1 dispatch center, with the remaining $800,000 supporting other county programs.

The millage was proposed last year in part to replace an annual $25.44 per telephone line surcharge that had been paying for 9-1-1 operations for years. Legislation authorizing the surcharge was set to expire in December 2006. In addition, the surcharge was not providing enough money to support 9-1-1 programs.

Part of the 9-1-1 funding shortfall was attributed to the fact that an increasing number of 9-1-1 calls – more than half, in fact – were coming from cellular phones. The telephone surcharge was not imposed on cellular phones, however; and the funding arrangement was seen as unfair.

Although state legislators in Lansing had proposed new funding arrangements, no new legislation had been passed to support 9-1-1 funding by the time the old arrangement expired in December 2006.

Legislators have been struggling since then to adopt a new state-wide funding arrangement for 9-1-1 – but have failed thus far.

“Some people think that paying for 9-1-1 with a property tax millage as we now do is even more unfair than the old telephone surcharge, and I can see why,” said Tom Skowronski, director of the county’s 9-1-1 dispatch center and emergency management office.

“Somebody who owns hundreds of acres of property is paying a lot more for 9-1-1 service than somebody with just a house on a small parcel – even if their demand for 9-1-1 services may be identical,” Skowronski explained. “Right now, legislators are considering new laws that could correct that disparity as well as the problems we had with the old legislation.”

Proposed, new legislation would create a new telephone surcharge. The charge would be on more than land-lines, however; and would include cellular phones, Internet phone service and other telecommunications technologies.

“It would still be a tax – but the money would be coming from a different place a little more directly related to 9-1-1,” Skowronski said.

Currently, three pieces of legislation are pending in Lansing.

House Bill 4852 would impose a $1.35 per month fee on “any communications service capable of accessing, connecting or interfacing with a 9-1-1 system.”

However, various “tax reform” groups throughout Michigan have already voiced their opposition to the House bill, saying that too much of the money collected may go to efforts not involving 9-1-1 service.

Senate Bills 410 and 411 may have a better chance of passing, according to Skowronski who, along with other 9-1-1 directors statewide, is paying close attention to the bill.

The bills would add just 25 cents to the monthly bill for all telephone service. But the law would also allow county boards of commissioners to assess an additional amount at their own discretion by adopting a resolution, or with voter approval.

“It’s still a work in progress, and it isn’t clear that both the House and the Senate will approve the bill in time to get it on the governor’s desk for a signature,” Skowronski said.

County commissioners must be assured by later this month that a new funding arrangement will be available if they are to cut back on county millage now supporting 9-1-1 and authorizing the new phone surcharge, Skowronski said.

“We’re hopeful that we’ll hear something positive from Lansing on this in the next couple of weeks,” Skowronski said. “But I’m not holding my breath. In any event, the county board will have some important decisions to make in the coming weeks,” he said.