E911 Phone tax hike gets county’s okay

Telephone customers in Whitman County will pay an additional 20 cents per phone line per month after commissioners approved an increased tax to fund emergency dispatch operations Monday.

Commissioners unanimously approved the increase from the current 50 cent tax to 70 cents to keep in place state funding for Whitcom.

“We really didn’t have any choice,” said Commissioner Michael Largent.

Legislation approved last session required local governments to approve the increase or face a loss of existing state funding.

“Rather than do it themselves, they expect the counties to expand the fees on landlines, cell phones and the voice-over-internet-protocol service,” said Commissioner Greg Partch.

Whitcom received about three-quarters of a million dollars in state funding for the current fiscal year.

The increased phone tax would add $2.40 a year to the bills of average phone customers for each telephone line or cell phone they have.

Increasing the tax by 20 cents each month will bring an additional $90,000 to the $225,000 Whitcom already receives from telephone excise taxes to run the 911 system.

Whitcom’s board of directors passed a resolution approving the tax increase at its meeting last Wednesday, Sept. 15. Partch, who chairs both the Whitcom board and the board of Whitman County commissioners, recused himself from the Sept. 15 Whitcom board vote.

Whitcom Director Patti Von Bargen said extra proceeds from the increased tax will be used to upgrade Whitcom’s system to meet the demands of a more tech-savvy society.

Over time, new equipment will allow those in an emergency to send text and picture messages from their cell phones to 911. Improvements will also be made so calls to any county’s 911 service could be instantly relayed to another county if need be.

No one spoke in opposition of the phone tax hike during Monday’s public hearing.