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County considers taking on 9-1-1 dispatch; staff warn of $150,000 preliminary gap
Summary
Commissioners discussed statute-driven responsibility to assume 9-1-1 if the city discontinues service, with county estimates of a net $150,000 cost this year and larger long-term risks if city funding is withdrawn.
Bourbon County commissioners discussed whether and how to assume 9-1-1 dispatch operations that the city currently funds in large part. City representatives have offered transitional funding — roughly $350,000 for the next two years — but commissioners and staff said the county would still likely absorb new costs when the city funding ends.
Staff presented a preliminary estimate that full county responsibility would cost about $550,000 and that the city’s $350,000 contribution would leave a net cost to the county this year near $150,000. The county’s estimate includes wages and employee benefits; staff noted county benefit costs are higher than the city’s line-item benefit assumptions and that those differences materially change the net estimate.
Micah, a county budget staff member, summarized the arithmetic presented to the commission: nine dispatch employees earn about $376,000 in salaries; applying a 40% benefits load produces roughly $150,400 in benefits. The city’s published budget shows a much smaller line-item for health insurance for its dispatch staff (about $81,209 in the city's worksheet), which helps explain the discrepancy between city and county cost models.
Commissioners said the public-safety and sheriff budgets are already tight and warned that adding full responsibility for 9-1-1 could force cuts elsewhere or require raising the mill levy. One commissioner flagged the equity issue: the change would shift dispatch costs across the county and reduce the disproportionate share that city taxpayers have borne.
Commissioners directed staff to refine the dispatch estimate, seek more-detailed benefit and Internet/connection cost information from city and county staff, and invite the city’s representatives back to the budget work session. They left the draft dispatch line in the working budget as a placeholder while asking for one more benefits and cost review before finalizing the number.
