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Mayors pressed for clear math as St. Clair County advances central dispatch fee plan
Summary
Mayors told the county commission they were blindsided by proposed increases to centralized dispatch fees and asked for detailed cost breakdowns and a fair allocation formula; commissioners approved FY27 dispatch fees but asked cities to propose how to split the municipal share.
Chair of the St. Clair County Commission called the meeting to order and opened a wide-ranging discussion of central dispatch funding after mayors raised concerns about sudden proposed rate increases.
Rusty Jessup, mayor of Riverside, told the commission, “it was gonna have to go up by 10%, which was, you know, scared the heck out of all of us. Then we heard now, you know, the recommendation was 5%,” and urged staff to provide the exact cost figures so city officials can explain budget impacts to police chiefs and clerks. Several other mayors echoed that confusion, saying a one-year spike would be difficult for small municipal budgets.
The commission and county staff described the central dispatch operation as having operational-line items (one worksheet showed $3,000,382 in operational expenses) and a larger total-cost figure that staff said is closer to $3.8–3.9 million annually. County 9-1-1 director Aslan Campbell clarified the constraints on using 9-1-1 funds, saying the county’s 9-1-1 receipts are roughly $1.3 million and that, “we are already running in the deficit,” on program costs.
Commissioners said the cities together were shown as contributing roughly $752,000–$823,000 on different worksheets (about 20–22% under current spreadsheets). To reduce friction, the board asked the mayors to meet and bring back a recommended method of distributing the municipal share — e.g., by call volume, population, or another formula — rather than having the commission impose a formula now.
The board then voted to adopt the FY27 municipal contract and fees for central dispatch and emergency management as presented in the meeting packet. Commissioners and mayors said the next step is to reconcile the spreadsheets, share the reconciled figures publicly, and work toward predictable annual adjustments (several mayors favored an indexed 3–5% annual increase instead of large one-time jumps).
The commission did not change the legal limits on 9-1-1 funds during the session; staff and Aslan emphasized the distinction between 9-1-1 call-taking dollars and the broader costs of a centralized dispatch service.
