Officials reach compromise for emergency dispatch financing

The Franklin County Emergency Management Commission (FCEMC) navigated through a few tense moments March 25 and reached an agreement that structures financing for future county-wide 911 dispatching budgets.

     The compromise splits the funding burden for dispatching into a two-tiered tax system – 50 percent of the estimated $308,000 budget will come from a county-wide property tax levy, and the other 50 percent will come from a county-wide per capita tax levy. The agreement was prompted by the local 911 dispatchers’ scheduled July 1 move from the Hampton Police Department to the Franklin County Law Enforcement Center (LEC). The first two years after the move are financed by a predetermined agreement between Franklin County and the City of Hampton, but legal council had suggested the FCEMC establish a funding structure for Year 3 and beyond.

Read the full article in the April 2 edition of the Hampton Chronicle.