Oakland County residents will soon see changes in the 9-1-1 surcharges that they pay with their monthly phone bills.
The Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to expand the 9-1-1 fee that the county charges on landline telephones to also include other communication devices, such as cell phones, starting July 1. The current rate of 28 cents per month will be reduced to 25 cents in July.
State lawmakers have already approved legislation that lowers the state tax of 29 cents.... on wireless devices to 19 cents in July and expands it to include landlines and other telecommunication devices.
While the county and state surcharges will combine to equal 44 cents per month per device, not all residents will pay that and some could even see a fee decrease. Because pre-paid phones aren't connected with a billing address, users of pre-paid phones only pay the state surcharge. Patricia Coates, administrator of the county's Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information Systems, said there are also discounts for business owners with multiple phone lines.
"In some cases, people will actually see reductions," she said.
Money collected from the local surcharge -- expected to be more than $2.1 million in 2008 -- is used to maintain and support a radio system and other equipment related to 9-1-1 services. Public safety agencies in the county will begin switching next year to a new digital radio system.
The county also gets a portion of the state surcharge.
The state legislation regarding 9-1-1 surcharges was set to expire Dec. 31, but lawmakers extended it and made some changes. Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently signed off on it, giving county commissioners the green light to extend their own resolution, which was also set to expire.
Coates said the state legislation required the county to expand its 9-1-1 surcharge beyond landlines to other devices.
With cell phone use on the rise, Mark Wolf, a fiscal analyst for the state House of Representatives, said the state tax was lowered to 19 cents because of the increase in the number of devices to which it will apply. It was designed to be generally revenue-neutral, he said.
Of the 18 county commissioners present at Thursday's meeting, five voted against the resolution.
http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/123007/loc_n3001.shtml
The Board of Commissioners voted Thursday to expand the 9-1-1 fee that the county charges on landline telephones to also include other communication devices, such as cell phones, starting July 1. The current rate of 28 cents per month will be reduced to 25 cents in July.
State lawmakers have already approved legislation that lowers the state tax of 29 cents.... on wireless devices to 19 cents in July and expands it to include landlines and other telecommunication devices.
While the county and state surcharges will combine to equal 44 cents per month per device, not all residents will pay that and some could even see a fee decrease. Because pre-paid phones aren't connected with a billing address, users of pre-paid phones only pay the state surcharge. Patricia Coates, administrator of the county's Courts and Law Enforcement Management Information Systems, said there are also discounts for business owners with multiple phone lines.
"In some cases, people will actually see reductions," she said.
Money collected from the local surcharge -- expected to be more than $2.1 million in 2008 -- is used to maintain and support a radio system and other equipment related to 9-1-1 services. Public safety agencies in the county will begin switching next year to a new digital radio system.
The county also gets a portion of the state surcharge.
The state legislation regarding 9-1-1 surcharges was set to expire Dec. 31, but lawmakers extended it and made some changes. Gov. Jennifer Granholm recently signed off on it, giving county commissioners the green light to extend their own resolution, which was also set to expire.
Coates said the state legislation required the county to expand its 9-1-1 surcharge beyond landlines to other devices.
With cell phone use on the rise, Mark Wolf, a fiscal analyst for the state House of Representatives, said the state tax was lowered to 19 cents because of the increase in the number of devices to which it will apply. It was designed to be generally revenue-neutral, he said.
Of the 18 county commissioners present at Thursday's meeting, five voted against the resolution.
http://www.dailytribune.com/stories/123007/loc_n3001.shtml
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