Tuesday, February 02, 1999
County will ask levy for emergency communications system
BY LUCY MAY
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Hamilton County voters will be asked again in May to increase their taxes to improve the county's emergency communications system.
But the size of that levy increase remains unclear.
County Commission President Tom Neyer Jr. and Commissioner Bob Bedinghaus said Monday they support putting the issue on the ballot but did not sign off on a specific dollar amount.
County Administrator David Krings and the county's tax levy review commission recommended a $69.7 million increase over four years. That increase would mean that the owner of a $100,000 house would pay roughly $36 more per year.
The tax increase would pay for a new emergency communications system throughout Hamilton County.
The radio system serves as the backbone for 911 throughout the county. The money generated by the four-year levy would pay for new radio towers, radios for police officers and firefighters, and equipment for dispatchers.
“It's not just a bunch of new radios for firemen to carry on their shoulders,” Mr. Bedinghaus said. “It's really safety for people who step into dangerous situations every day.”
The issue has been on the ballot twice before over the years and has failed both times. Mr. Neyer said that those past attempts were confused by other issues on the ballot and that the case wasn't made clearly.
Mr. Neyer said his message to voters will be: “Our emergency services personnel need this equipment to safeguard not just their lives, but yours as well.”
Currently, the 911 system sometimes gets so many calls stacked up that there are delays before an ambulance can be dispatched, said Bill Hinkle, director of Hamilton County communications. “Twenty or 30 or 50 seconds can make a lot of difference when someone's not breathing,” he said.
Mr. Neyer and Mr. Bedinghaus said Monday they want to study the financial analysis that resulted in the $69.7 mil lion recommendation to see whether it can be trimmed.
They also made it clear that if the system ends up being cheaper to build than expected, the commissioners would consider a tax rollback.
Mr. Neyer said he expects commissioners to determine a levy amount in the next two weeks.
On Wednesday, they will approve a resolution asking Hamilton County Auditor Dusty Rhodes to calculate the impact of such an increase on county taxpayers.
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