Quincy City Council hears MACC needs

QUINCY — Members of the Multi Agency Communications Center's executive board introduced the Quincy City Council and mayor to the life saving importance of Proposition No. 1 Tuesday night.

Ephrata City Administrator and MACC board member Wes Crago said the ballot resolution, if passed, would authorize a sales tax of one tenth of one percent to fund the 911 system's much needed improvements.

"MACC was set up as cheaply as we could in 1995, and we did it with existing technology that was frankly a little bit old in 1995," Crago said. "It's now 2005 and we are seeing some degradation of our system."

Thirty-one first responder agencies, including police, fire and emergency medical services, depend on MACC every day for their radio communications. The emergency 911 system has dispatched more than 360,000 calls since it went into service in 1995, Crago said.

"If you have the dynamite police, ambulance and fire service, which you have, they're not going to get the word if the 911 system is a weak link," he said.

Areas such as Quincy and Warden have been trouble spots for coordinating with the current system, Crago said, and he believes there needs to be more redundancy because only a few towers are in use to link communications.

In July, the Grant County commissioners unanimously approved a resolution to place the measure on the November ballot. Proposition No. 1 will now put the choice of an increased sales tax to provide ongoing and stable funding for the emergency system's improvements squarely on the shoulders of the voters in November.

Retail sales tax in Grant County is currently 7.8 cents per dollar, while Yakima and Chelan Counties are 7.9 and 8, respectively. The potential increase would mean an additional dollar for every $1,000 spent in the county.

Quincy mayor and former MACC board member Dick Zimbelman said after the meeting that he supports the sales-tax hike sought by the board for the radio-communication system upgrade. He said it would benefit Grant County residents and tourists who depend on the system. Those visitors would help pay for the upgrades when they spend money in the county, he said.

"MACC is in real trouble if they don't get it," Zimbelman said.

What they need, according to AdComm Engineering, a Woodinville consulting firm, is $7 million for a complete overhaul of the radio system.

Crago said the money would provide redundancy to the system so that multiple links will be broadcasting to the same area. That way, if one tower goes down, responders will not be forced to use cell phones and pagers to communicate.

In addition to the need for improved service, the Federal Communications Commission has required all emergency radio networks to upgrade to a more expensive "narrow-band" system by the year 2013, Crago said.

The $7 million price tag to turn MACC's equipment into a state-of-the-art system that meets the needs of the public would also bring Grant County into compliance with FCC requirements, the city council members were told.

Money from state and federal sources fund about 57 percent of the 911 service in Grant County now. Local police, fire and ambulance services pay an average of $25 per call currently to make up the difference.

Next year, the cost per call is expected to be about $28 if Proposition No. 1 is passed. If it does not pass, and the MACC board decides to risk no upgrade, the price per call would be about $28.

If improvements are made without the new tax, however, which is expected to bring in about $800,000 per year for MACC, per call costs are expected to double, Crago said.

Meanwhile, as costs per call may potentially double, overall governmental revenues continue to fall for each emergency response agency serving in Grant County, he said.

Members of the MACC's executive board will also be making their Proposition No. 1 presentation to the Ephrata City Council tonight.