Clarkston approves amendment raising per-household fee for Logan City dispatch services

Clarkston Town Council on April 15 approved Resolution 25-04, Amendment No. 1 to the interlocal agreement with Logan City governing dispatch services, agreeing to raise the monthly per-household assessment for 911 dispatch from $3.00 to $3.30 and to apply 3% increases annually thereafter through fiscal year 2030. The vote passed unanimously among council members present; Councilmember Jared Peters was recorded as absent.

The amendment, as read into the record by the mayor, replaces the section titled “Assessments for Operation Cost” to set the assessment at $3.30 per month per household or commercial site within user boundaries and specifies a 10% increase in fiscal year 2026 followed by 3% annual increases for subsequent fiscal years through 2030. The amendment also adds a nonappropriation clause allowing a party to terminate the agreement if funds are not appropriated by its governing body.

The council action followed a presentation from Logan City’s dispatch leadership describing staffing shortfalls and wage competition. The dispatch director said the center is funded as an enterprise and receives revenue from the utility-bill assessment and a separate fee on cell-phone bills, and asked Clarkston for the increase “starting July first of 2025.” The director summarized the proposal in council remarks: “We’re asking for a 10% increase for the first year starting July first of 2025. And then for the next four years after that, we’re asking for a 3% increase—for a total at the end of a five-year period of 71¢ per month per household.”

Logan City dispatch staff told the council the center is funded for 20 full-time positions but currently has about 14 full-time employees and one in training, leaving roughly five vacancies. They described a 16-week training program with a high attrition rate—roughly one in three trainees complete training—and said the center handles about 20,000 more calls per year than it did 13 years ago while staffing levels remain similar. The presenters cited competitive starting wages in neighboring jurisdictions—Box Elder County offering about $27.50/hour, Rich County about $26, and Franklin County about $25—while Logan’s starting dispatcher wage was reported at $22.85 (after a temporary $2 emergency increase the previous November).

Logan staff and the mayor told the council the interlocal arrangement dates to earlier agreements—an original interlocal was executed July 21, 2017, and the monthly assessment had not been increased since February 2002. The amendment text recorded by the mayor identifies the $3.30 rate as a 10% increase on the current $3 rate and enumerates the planned 3% increases starting in fiscal 2027 through fiscal 2030. The amendment also makes clear that users (member cities) retain the opportunity to appear before the Logan Municipal Council if they object to assessment amounts.

During discussion, council members asked whether the county would assume dispatch responsibilities; the dispatch director said, “The county is absolutely not interested in taking the dispatch center back,” but said the center has discussed moving to a special service district in the future. Speakers warned that creating an independent district would carry substantial startup costs—including an estimate mentioned in the meeting that moving a radio tower could cost about $1 million—and could produce significantly higher per-household costs than the proposed assessment.

The resolution was moved and seconded and approved without recorded opposition. The council noted that the amendment includes a nonappropriation clause that allows termination if a party’s governing body does not appropriate funds for the amended assessment.

The council meeting minutes show the approved document as “Resolution 25-04, Amendment No. 1 to the interlocal agreement for dispatch services between Logan City and Clarkston Town,” effective as amended; the mayor indicated he would sign the amendment at the meeting.

Requests for further detail during the meeting included: a breakdown of how the added revenue would be allocated (staffing and wages were cited as the primary uses), how the fee is collected (on utility bills and cell-phone bills), and comparative scenarios if dispatch became a separate taxing entity. The dispatch presenters invited council members to tour the Logan City Dispatch Center to observe operations and training.

Clarkston’s action amends the interlocal arrangement with Logan City and sets a schedule of modest annual assessment increases intended to bolster wages and help recruit and retain dispatchers; implementation will depend on each participating entity’s budget process and the right of users to appear before Logan’s municipal council regarding assessment levels.