House bill would allow tax on cell phones to fund 911

Some Missouri legislators have introduced a bill in the House to establish a tax on mobile services, a surcharge they say could benefit struggling 911 call centers.

The bill's sponsor, Rep. Ed Schieffer, D-Troy, said as currently written it would authorize counties, with voter approval, to put a tax of up to 75 cents a month on mobile phones.

Similar bills, like the one introduced in 2008, didn't progress far enough for the Missouri House or Senate to vote on the measure. This session, the bill was introduced and read through in late February but hasn't yet been scheduled to be reviewed by a House committee.

Schieffer said past bills were opposed because the tax would have been assessed statewide. The big difference, he said, is that the decision would be left up to local governments seeking to upgrade or replace outdated 911 communications equipment.

"A lot of counties are having trouble keeping their 911 service," Schieffer said. "I think if we get a hearing we have a decent shot of this going."

Cape Girardeau County Emergency Management director Richard Knaup said his agency "wholeheartedly supports" the measure, as the department is without communications technology to track 911 calls from cellphones. Like most call centers, operations in Cape Girardeau County are funded by taxes on land-line telephones. Residents opting for only cellphone service have caused a decline in revenue.

"The people in Missouri who own wireless cellphones pay nothing for 911 services," Knaup said. "The technology to track them is expensive. We can't afford to bankrupt the entire 911 system to carry the wireless."

In fiscal year 2010, Cape Girardeau County collected just more than $529,000 in revenue for 911 services, about $40,000 more than what had been projected. Knaup said much of the extra revenue came in due to VoIP technology being approved by the FCC as a wired line that could be assessed a surcharge.

In Scott County, revenue for 911 services has dropped more than $100,000 in 10 years, according to Presiding Commissioner Jamie Burger. He said that when he was first elected into office in 2001, the county was collecting around $270,00. Last year the county collected just under $175,000.

Burger, who agrees that 911 operations in Missouri are in trouble and need assistance, said state legislators may be approaching the problem the wrong way.

"The biggest thing, I think, that we need from the state is some sort of uniformity. ... I think it has to be a vote across the state, I don't think it could be county by county," he said.

Sen. Jason Crowell, R-Cape Girardeau, thinks the solution to savings among 911 communications centers is consolidating the public safety answering points throughout the state. In Missouri, Crowell said, there are 150 PSAPs, the first contact a person has when calling 911. Cape Girardeau County has three answering points and Scott County has four, he said.

"It's just crazy," Crowell said. "Missouri taxpayers should not be subsized any more so than they are for an inefficient model."

Burger said Scott County officials recently met with leaders from Mississippi County, Stoddard County and several other county governments, discussing the development of a study group to determine if consolidation of their 911 operations is a possibility.

"Some of these counties are facing the fiscal problems we have already encountered. I think consolidation is a necessity," Burger said. "Even if two counties or three counties go together, that's a really good start."

The bill proposing a tax on cellphones is HB 645. Crowell said there's been no companion legislation filed in the Senate since 2009, when former senator John Griesheimer, a Republican from Washington, Mo., proposed a 25-cent cellphone tax.

ehevern@semissourian.com

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