County warns of 911 server end‑of‑life as dispatch budget shows staffing gains

County staff told the council the 911 hold-harmless payment from the state 911 board totals about $37,502 per month (roughly $450,024 annually) and has not increased despite rising costs. The central dispatch budget is described as “bare bones” and several fixed state restrictions limit how 911 funds can be used.

Renee (central dispatch/EMA director) said operational moves in 2025 moved the Motorola radio lease payment out of the 911 budget and into the public safety local income tax (LIT) budget, and that a 4% salary increase was included in 2026 staffing proposals. Presenters proposed keeping 16 dispatcher lines in the budget while aiming for a staffed complement closer to 18 to reduce forced overtime.

Chris, assistant director for central dispatch, presented overtime tracking that compared 2018–2024 averages to 2025 year‑to‑date totals. “Year to date…we're down 62%,” he said, crediting improved hiring and training for the decrease and describing overtime as a major driver of burnout and turnover.

A separate, urgent technical issue arose: the county’s Spillman records/CAD server is at end of life and cannot continue to accept updates or patches. Staff reported the vendor’s replacement estimate was substantially higher than local IT proposals; one county estimate discussed in the meeting was approximately $165,000. Presenters emphasized the county lacks a redundant server: “If our server goes down right now, we're dead in the water,” one official said, adding that a single-server failure would halt dispatch, jail booking and agency reporting and could force a return to pen-and-paper operations.

Staff proposed discussing cost-sharing arrangements with city partners because the server supports multiple agencies (dispatch, jail, police, fire, EMS, probation, prosecutors). They also recommended building redundancy so monthly maintenance would not require three-to-four hour outages.

Budget presenters asked the council to consider moving additional payments into the LIT budget to help cover the 911 shortfall and noted an anticipated one-time end-of-year distribution from the state sometimes reduces pressure on the fund. Council members asked for follow-up on the server replacement plan and the city’s potential contribution before final appropriation.