Meeting to be held for 911 surcharge

Due to a lack of land lines and rising costs, Mark Meints of Gage County Emergency Management said a raise in the 911 surcharge is needed.

Meints told the Gage County Board of Supervisors Wednesday that he recently had to dip into his own department's budget to pay for a phone bill from 911 calls.

Currently, the surcharge varies across the county from 50 cents to $1. Meints said the surcharge should be $1 county-wide which would help defer part of the cost for emergency phone calls.

When 911 is called by cell phones, Meints said the surcharge is taken by the state, not the county, yet the bills from receiving those phone calls still come in.

Meints said the state returns that money in updated equipment, but not in reimbursement for calling costs.