Barry County E9-1-1 budget to include some equipment upgrades
New Barry County E9-1-1 board member Ryan Henderson was sworn in to his position at the board’s quarterly meeting on Monday, June 24. Henderson is being sworn in by board president Jon Horner.
June 26, 2019
Charlea Estes-Jones
The Barry County E9-1-1 board of directors approved the center’s new budget, which begins July 1. The budget, roughly $273,000 more than last year’s, will include a large payment toward the center’s debt service as well as some system upgrades to meet the center’s needs.
This 911 board approved the budget proposed by executive director Mike Phillips with no changes at their meeting on Monday, June 24. The budget for the 2019/2020 fiscal year is $1,716,500, a change from last year’s $1,443,575.
A sizeable chunk of the increase in the budget this year is an additional $175,000 principal payment on the center’s debt service. Phillips said the center tries to pay an additional primary payment every couple years to cut down on the life of the loan. The center also refinanced the loan a few years ago to save money.
Phillips said, “I think this is the second or third time of making an additional principal payment. The board is debt-conscious and works to pay down debt without impacting our daily operations. We refinanced when we could to save money, because we want to be good stewards of the tax payers’ money. It should cut about two years off the life of the loan.”
Phillips said there are approximately 12 years left on the life of the loan.
Other big budget items included changes to the security system. While last year’s budget was $5,000 for communications repair, this year that number jumped to $35,000. Phillips said that will be to upgrade the security measures at the center.
He said, “The current security system that we have that includes the cameras and the biometric readers are original to the original installation of the building. We are going to go through and update those. Sometimes they don’t want to scan our fingerprints and cause problems, so it’s time.”
An additional $10,000 increase was included under the communications radio/towers repair and purchase budget line item. Phillips indicated this was due to recent conversations with some agencies in the northern area of Barry County considering switching their dispatching to Barry County. Normally, $20,000 is budgeted for that line item, but this year the amount is $30,000.
Phillips said, while nothing is certain, it is best to have that money reserved in case the 911 center moves forward.
He explained, “There’s been discussions from some of the agencies in the northern part of Barry County about switching who does dispatching. Currently, they are being dispatched from City of Monett. There are no final decisions made, but if any of those agencies decide to be dispatched by us, I earmarked money to make improvements for communications in the northern part of the county.”
When Barry County developed a dedicated 9-1-1 center, northern agencies opted to use existing service in Monett for dispatch. Now, some are considering switching, and currently, the most northern towers are near George’s Feed Mill, causing some communication issues.
Phillips said, “We can communicate a little up there, but I believe it needs to be improved. Since we are starting those discussions now, our fiscal budget starts July 1, I wanted to set that money aside now to be able to accommodate those requests.”
The services that could possibly make that change are Aurora Rural Fire, Monett Rural FIre, Pierce City Rural Fire and Barry-Lawrence County Ambulance, which all serve parts of northern Barry County as well as other counties.
The final large line item in the Barry County E9-1-1 budget is an upgrade to telecommunicator stations. Currently, the center has four stations for telecommunicators to work from. Starting this year, Phillips said there is a need for a fifth station. Upgrades to current stations and a new station are budgeted for $75,000 instead of last year’s $1,200.
Phillips said it is industry standard to have one additional station on top of how many dispatchers are working at any given time. Now, due to demand, there are times when there are four telecommunicators dispatching at one time. Phillips added that additional station could be used for training times, as well as if one of the existing stations goes down and cannot be used during a shift.
He said, the cost is mostly due to the computer aspects of the new station, but also some furniture upgrades to the other stations that have failing hydraulic systems. He said, “Adding a fifth station means it’s additional licensing for software and additional hardware. Every workstation has three computers at a workstation. It’ll be five additional monitors, four keyboards, four mice; it adds up.”
The fifth workstation will also include the furniture to hold it, which will be similar to existing furniture. However, other stations’ desks will also be replaced. He said, “All of our devices and workstations are adjustable depending on your height and so forth. It’ll add the mechanical legs to move the work station up and down by themselves.
“We’re experiencing leg defaults in hydraulics. They were recommending for them to be replaced, so the company is going to give a partial credit for some of the older stuff we have to accommodate not only for the new design but so that everything works together.
“The design stays the same, but the legs, which are the most expensive, we’re unable to purchase them anymore.”
Other increases in the budget included additional payroll now that the center is fully staffed, as well as an estimated six to 12 percent increase for insurance coverage.
One line item that saved the center money in the new budget was a $16,500 savings since there will be no election of board members this year.
The Barry County E9-1-1 budget is based on an estimated sales tax revenue of $1,532,850 and $7,000 in interest. Phillips said, “We always estimate revenue conservatively even though it will probably come in more than that.”
During the board meeting, a new member was also sworn into the board. Ryan Henderson was sworn in on the board to replace Jeff Parson, who stepped down from his seat.
Charlea Estes-Jones
The Barry County E9-1-1 board of directors approved the center’s new budget, which begins July 1. The budget, roughly $273,000 more than last year’s, will include a large payment toward the center’s debt service as well as some system upgrades to meet the center’s needs.
This 911 board approved the budget proposed by executive director Mike Phillips with no changes at their meeting on Monday, June 24. The budget for the 2019/2020 fiscal year is $1,716,500, a change from last year’s $1,443,575.
A sizeable chunk of the increase in the budget this year is an additional $175,000 principal payment on the center’s debt service. Phillips said the center tries to pay an additional primary payment every couple years to cut down on the life of the loan. The center also refinanced the loan a few years ago to save money.
Phillips said, “I think this is the second or third time of making an additional principal payment. The board is debt-conscious and works to pay down debt without impacting our daily operations. We refinanced when we could to save money, because we want to be good stewards of the tax payers’ money. It should cut about two years off the life of the loan.”
Phillips said there are approximately 12 years left on the life of the loan.
Other big budget items included changes to the security system. While last year’s budget was $5,000 for communications repair, this year that number jumped to $35,000. Phillips said that will be to upgrade the security measures at the center.
He said, “The current security system that we have that includes the cameras and the biometric readers are original to the original installation of the building. We are going to go through and update those. Sometimes they don’t want to scan our fingerprints and cause problems, so it’s time.”
An additional $10,000 increase was included under the communications radio/towers repair and purchase budget line item. Phillips indicated this was due to recent conversations with some agencies in the northern area of Barry County considering switching their dispatching to Barry County. Normally, $20,000 is budgeted for that line item, but this year the amount is $30,000.
Phillips said, while nothing is certain, it is best to have that money reserved in case the 911 center moves forward.
He explained, “There’s been discussions from some of the agencies in the northern part of Barry County about switching who does dispatching. Currently, they are being dispatched from City of Monett. There are no final decisions made, but if any of those agencies decide to be dispatched by us, I earmarked money to make improvements for communications in the northern part of the county.”
When Barry County developed a dedicated 9-1-1 center, northern agencies opted to use existing service in Monett for dispatch. Now, some are considering switching, and currently, the most northern towers are near George’s Feed Mill, causing some communication issues.
Phillips said, “We can communicate a little up there, but I believe it needs to be improved. Since we are starting those discussions now, our fiscal budget starts July 1, I wanted to set that money aside now to be able to accommodate those requests.”
The services that could possibly make that change are Aurora Rural Fire, Monett Rural FIre, Pierce City Rural Fire and Barry-Lawrence County Ambulance, which all serve parts of northern Barry County as well as other counties.
The final large line item in the Barry County E9-1-1 budget is an upgrade to telecommunicator stations. Currently, the center has four stations for telecommunicators to work from. Starting this year, Phillips said there is a need for a fifth station. Upgrades to current stations and a new station are budgeted for $75,000 instead of last year’s $1,200.
Phillips said it is industry standard to have one additional station on top of how many dispatchers are working at any given time. Now, due to demand, there are times when there are four telecommunicators dispatching at one time. Phillips added that additional station could be used for training times, as well as if one of the existing stations goes down and cannot be used during a shift.
He said, the cost is mostly due to the computer aspects of the new station, but also some furniture upgrades to the other stations that have failing hydraulic systems. He said, “Adding a fifth station means it’s additional licensing for software and additional hardware. Every workstation has three computers at a workstation. It’ll be five additional monitors, four keyboards, four mice; it adds up.”
The fifth workstation will also include the furniture to hold it, which will be similar to existing furniture. However, other stations’ desks will also be replaced. He said, “All of our devices and workstations are adjustable depending on your height and so forth. It’ll add the mechanical legs to move the work station up and down by themselves.
“We’re experiencing leg defaults in hydraulics. They were recommending for them to be replaced, so the company is going to give a partial credit for some of the older stuff we have to accommodate not only for the new design but so that everything works together.
“The design stays the same, but the legs, which are the most expensive, we’re unable to purchase them anymore.”
Other increases in the budget included additional payroll now that the center is fully staffed, as well as an estimated six to 12 percent increase for insurance coverage.
One line item that saved the center money in the new budget was a $16,500 savings since there will be no election of board members this year.
The Barry County E9-1-1 budget is based on an estimated sales tax revenue of $1,532,850 and $7,000 in interest. Phillips said, “We always estimate revenue conservatively even though it will probably come in more than that.”
During the board meeting, a new member was also sworn into the board. Ryan Henderson was sworn in on the board to replace Jeff Parson, who stepped down from his seat.