The headline in the paper today was about the Wooster Fire Department and Wooster Police Department getting a grant to join a joint dispatch. This is very bad news for the Wayne County Commissioners. Many of you know the Commissioners set this into motion when they tried in 2012 to force the smaller villages to pay more. Smithville refused the huge increase and moved to Orrvilles dispatch service. With Wooster (the largest contributor) now leaving Wayne County dispatch how will the commissioners fund their County dispatch now? Who will they try to get money from next? How much will this error in judgement and lack of civility in our Wayne County Government cost you the taxpayer? Below is the article from the Daily Record published in 2012. Commissioners scaling back the cost of dispatch services at the Wayne County Justice Center By BOBBY WARREN Staff Writer Published: October 21, 2012 4:00AM WOOSTER -- Police, fire and emergency medical service departments that use the dispatch center in the Wayne County Justice Center will still pay more in 2013, but the increase has been scaled back 7 percentage points by the commissioners. Village officials had been notified the cost of dispatching services would increase as an effort was made to more closely align costs with actual usage of dispatching services through the Wooster public-safety access point. The new contract amounts are based on a couple of factors: Population and actual usage. However, the commissioners were asking the outside agencies to pay 25 percent of the projected amount, with county tax dollars subsidizing the rest. Police chiefs from Apple Creek, Creston, Marshallville, Mount Eaton, Shreve, Smithville and West Salem sent the commissioners a letter regarding the increases and asked for a meeting, which happened Monday. It was after going over several issues, including costs, what constitutes a call for service and quality of service, the commissioners decided to reduce the amount each agency would pay over the next two years. Instead of the 25 percent of actual costs, Commissioners Scott Wiggam, Jim Carmichael and Ann Obrecht agreed to charge the outside agencies 18 percent of the total cost or the current invoice amount, whichever is greater. Chiefs Chuck Ellis, Smithville, Ron Kiner, Shreve, Bryon Meshew, Creston, Jason Woodruff, Apple Creek, and Sgt. Dozier Hendershot, West Salem, submitted a proposal based on what they felt their villages could afford. Part-time departments, like Apple Creek, Mount Eaton, West Salem and Marshallville, would pay $2,500, and the full-time departments -- Creston, Shreve and Smithville -- would pay $3,500. In a memo emailed to village elected and law enforcement officials Tuesday night, the commissioners wrote they appreciated their viewpoint, but we are committed to charging agencies and departments based on their actual use of services. The cost to operate the Wooster PSAP is about $933,000 annually, and Wooster and Wayne County pay 97 percent of that amount, $905,000, according to a chart shared by Wiggam with the chiefs. The other agencies combined pay for the remaining 3 percent, which is nearly $27,900. The original plan was to increase the share from other agencies to around 6.4 percent ($60,100), though each agency would see increases of varying levels because of population and the number of calls for service made to dispatchers. Smithville, for example, was going to jump from $922 to $8,054, while Marshallville was going to increase from $922 to $1,402. But, as the chart pointed out, Wooster used about 50 percent of the dispatching services, the Wayne County Sheriffs Office about 23 percent and all of the other agencies 27 percent. With the new rates offered by the commissioners, those other agencies will pay about 4.8 percent of the annual operational costs though they amount to 27 percent of the usage. How much dispatching services each of those police departments use is based on calls for service. Ellis and Meshew both indicated they could dramatically reduce their calls into the dispatch center by tracking cases internally instead of calling into dispatch for case numbers. By reducing calls to dispatch, the chiefs are hoping to bring down their costs. Calls to dispatch is why we put people in those seats, Wiggam said Monday, adding if the chiefs improve efficiency, it will save everybody money. County Administrator Patrick Herron said savings will depend upon what happens with all of the agencies using the system. If the agencies reduce the number of calls and not as many dispatchers are needed, then costs will come down. There are three scheduled regularly for each shift, with a fourth one Thursday-Friday night. One of the concerns during the change in how agencies are billed came from Smithville council President Tom Poulson, who argued county residents will be billed twice for dispatching because villages will pay more and the residents already pay in the countys general fund. Wiggam addressed this issue with the chiefs, noting those being charged by the county for dispatching are those who use the Wooster PSAP. Not all county residents use the Wooster site. There are other PSAPs in Orrville and Rittman, and those residents still pay county taxes. The change in the cost structure is an attempt to get those who use the service to pay for the service, Wiggam said. Herron said later the county is only responsible for providing tax dollars for the dispatching needs of the Sheriffs Office; it has no obligation for other political subdivisions. Another issue arising during the meeting was the quality of service. The commissioners and chiefs agreed to meet again Oct. 31 to talk about operations and technology.
Posted on: Thu, 06 Mar 2014 01:23:29 +0000
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