Halifax County is looking at more equitable options to fund operations at the E-911 Center.

Consideration of these options comes after a funding plan implemented to prevent double taxation of municipalities was put in place in 2003-2004, County Manager Tony Brown said Monday.

Based on population, that plan offered a credit to the municipalities, which felt they were paying both city and county taxes to fund the operations. “That was their argument,” Brown said. “We didn’t disagree with that. In order to address that issue we took populations and gave them credit based on their populations.”

(The county 911 board will have a called meeting on the matter February 20 at 5:30 p.m. in the old commissioners building adjacent to the Historic Courthouse.)

The credit was deducted from their call volume, Brown said. “What happened, the credit was working too well. Some municipalities made fewer calls. The amount being deducted was greater than the original call volume. Some didn’t pay anything.”
Scotland Neck and Hobgood — Hobgood has the lowest amount of calls — are projected to pay nothing to the county based on the current formula.

While projections show this leaves the county paying $240,421.12, Brown said that’s not the point. “It’s not about the county paying an extra $240,000 a year. It’s about all municipalities paying their fair share. Zero is not a fair share.”

How it got to the point Scotland Neck didn’t have to pay anything is not clear, Brown said.

Part of it deals with calls that did not go through the 911 center. Whether that is blatant circumvention of the system to save money is something that Brown was not sure of.

“We’ve got some ideas,” County Emergency Services Director Phil Ricks said Monday, declining to elaborate further.

Scotland Neck Police Chief Joe Williams could not be reached for immediate comment.

The issue leaves the county scouring for solutions, Brown said, and has come up with two proposals.

One is to go to a population formula in which the county would foot 70.22 percent of the bill or $656,715. That would leave Roanoke Rapids paying approximately 20.55 percent of the bill or $192,188.73. 

Roanoke Rapids currently pays $165,872.32.

This would mean Scotland Neck would foot 2.77 percent of the bill or $25,905.73 and Hobgood .48 percent or $4,489.08.

The other proposal is to go by call volume. That would put Roanoke Rapids, based on 31,804 calls a year, funding 28.57 percent or $267,193.78.

Scotland Neck, based on 2,376 calls a year, would fund 2.13 percent of the bill or $19,920.29.

Under the call volume plan the county would fund 60.58 percent of the center’s operations or $566,559.31 of the proposed $935,225 budget.

The population plan would mean everyone always pays, Brown said. “It would fix it permanently.”

But, Brown said, the county is open to options and the 911 Board will listen. “In my mind everyone has to contribute.”