The Warren County Emergency Communications Center, which operates 911 dispatch in the county, will be seeking a quarter-cent sales tax increase on the April 8 ballot. 

It would be the first sales tax increase the center has received since its existing sales tax was passed in 1994. 

Director Amy Leach said the increase would be used to fund the hiring of additional 911 dispatchers, expand the dispatch center and upgrade their radio system. 

The sales tax is the dispatch center’s only source of revenue, and the only way they can receive additional funds is by passing a sales tax increase. 

As the county’s population has grown, call volumes for the dispatch center have also increased. Leach said those increases have led to a need for additional dispatchers, which in turn leads to a need for space for them to work. 

“This tax initiative would allow us to build out, so we’d have more frequencies. Our coverage is great, we have wonderful coverage … but we’re limited on our space,” said Leach. 

According to a press release from the dispatch center, call volumes have increased by 115% since 2008 and the county’s population has increased by 72%. 

The additional radio frequencies that would also be funded through the sales tax increase would allow the dispatch center to dedicate radio frequencies to individual agencies or events as opposed to operating them all on one frequency. 

“Just to build out that radio portion is $500,000 and we just don’t have that money,” said Leach. “We have to have a certain amount of money in reserves for contingencies that’s state law that we have to have that - and the way the economy is, the expenses are outweighing the income.”

The additional radio frequencies would allow the dispatch center to isolate large calls like the Abundant Life Church property fire on March 18 to a dedicated channel so it does not impact dispatching for other emergencies that occur while a larger incident like that is being handled. 

Leach said while the decision to move forward to improvements would fall on the dispatch center’s board, if the sales tax increase is passed, she would want to move forward as soon as possible. 

“My goal is to get started right away, so if the tax passes in April we would have meetings with our finance person, our radio vendors, with all of the entities at stake and say what’s the timeline, where are we at and then start the process,” said Leach. 

She had previously said the first step would be to hire additional dispatchers. The center currently employs 16 dispatchers in total and four of them work 12-hour shifts at one time. 

With the increase, they would hire four more dispatchers and increase shifts to five at one time. 

“With more people and more houses it means more call volumes and more businesses that will come out here so the taxes for us, we’ll have more personnel to be able to field those calls and have someone be heard and get those responders to them faster,” said dispatcher Tyler Benton. 

He also said the additional space would be a significant improvement for dispatchers, as they are nearing the maximum capacity for their dispatchers. 

“The biggest thing for me is having the bodies in here to answer the calls for the citizens now that we’re growing so rapidly,” said Benton. 

The next steps would be the expansion of the dispatch center and the addition of radio frequencies. 

She clarified there would be no interruption in services during construction and they would bring trailers for the dispatchers to work out of while work was done on the building. 

“The worst-case scenario is that someone’s not there to answer a call. I know in bigger cities, they might not have that many dispatchers, (and) there’s complaints of people that don’t get answered and maybe don’t get helped for a long time,” said Benton. “So that’s something I would never want us to have here.”