County to Governor: Leave 911 funds alone so Whitcom can get texts

Whitman County commissioners Tuesday sent a letter urging Gov. Chris Gregoire to back off her plan to divert $6 million from emergency dispatch funding.

The Governor has planned to shift money from the state’s E-911 fund to the state’s Disaster Response Account, which is used to match federal dollars in disaster recoveries and to dispatch firefighters and police to large wildfires.

Commissioner Greg Partch said the money is intended to be used to upgrade dispatch systems in smaller counties so they will be able to accept 911 text messages.

He said that upgrade is especially critical in Whitman County, where WSU students from larger counties like King or Pierce are accustomed to text messaging.

“Right now we have kids texting 911, and Whitcom can’t do anything with it,” said Partch.

Included in that funding are proceeds from an increased phone tax commissioners approved in September. In order to raise more funding for the technology upgrades, taxes on all phone lines were increased from 50 cents to 70 cents per month.

“That’s money that was legislatively dedicated to this,” said Partch. “But, they’ve taken away dedicated funding before, nothing’s stopping them from doing it again.”

Partch said he was asked by the Whitcom board of directors, which he chairs, to write the letter to the Governor on behalf of county commissioners. Letter requests were also made of Pullman and WSU officials.