On Nov. 24, 2009, Butler County voters will be asked to decide how to best fund public safety communications improvements. Voters will be presented with the option of a ¼ cent sales tax in lieu of funding the project with property taxes. The Butler County Commission is using the mail-in-ballot election to ask citizens how they would like to pay for the new and upgraded communications system.
The FCC has mandated that radio system owners, including Butler County, meet new standards by January 1, 2013. Failure to meet these requirements will make affected systems unusable as neighboring systems upgrade to the newer technology that will interfere with existing systems. Additionally those system owners who do not comply with the mandates become subject to FCC fines of thousands of dollars per day.
Are we mandated to spend $12.9 million for the system? Absolutely not! However, the county is taking the best long term and cost effective approach to dealing with the problem at hand and providing a solid public safety communications system that meets the needs of both our citizens and public safety personnel today and into the future. You might read or see information attacking the county’s approach in dealing with this problem and many of the statements are half truths and mislead the citizens of Butler County. Performing minimal upgrades to the existing system would comply with the 2013 deadline but would do little to address local problems and would not be compliant with planned mandates expected from the FCC in the next five to ten years. Ultimately funds for such a project are more cost effective by applying them to a new digital communications system. This is not as simple as replacing radios and moving forward.
The new radio system will meet all of the FCC requirements while significantly improving the audio quality of all radio communications used by Police, Fire, and EMS in every community across Butler County. This solution provides new radios for every public safety agency in the county while taking advantage of KDOT’s radio system to provide true statewide coverage for emergency personnel.
Approval of the ¼ cent sales tax will generate approximately 1.5 million dollars annually. The sales tax revenue will then be used to pay for the estimated 12.9 million dollar expense of the new communications system. Butler County will issue debt and the sales tax will be used to pay off the debt. The collection of sales tax will begin April 1, 2010 and will sunset and expire in 10 years.
Alternatively the county would be forced to fund the new communications with an increase on property taxes. A property owner would pay the following property taxes for the communications plan based on their property value:
$100,000 Home = $34.50 yearly
$200,000 Home = $69.00 yearly
$300,000 Home = $103.50 yearly
