Like its citizens, the Blaine County government is struggling to make its budget balance.
When it met in regular session Monday morning, one of the topics on the agenda for the county commission was the annual contract with the city of Weatherford for dispatching services for 9-11 and emergency responders such as firefighters or police.
Emergency manager Jim Shelton had checked with other dispatch centers after the matter was tabled last week. Hopes were the services could be delivered at a lower cost elsewhere.
However, Shelton dashed the commissioner’s hopes.
“I can’t find anything less expensive,” he told them.
The cost of the 9-1-1 answering service and dispatch for fire and EMS is going up by $28,343 from $257,671 for the year ending in June to $286,014 for the year beginning July 1 and ending in June 2026.
Likewise, dispatching county law enforcement is going up by $11,974 from $107,458 for the year ending in June to $119,432 for the year beginning July 1 and ending in June 2026.
That increase, though, according to Mike Karlin, Weatherford Emergency Management Director, is only to meet pay increases to the staff and the added benefits with the compensation.
It was still a bitter pill to swallow.
Treasurer Crystal Campos Perez asked if there were a fee if the county was forced to stop using the service for lack of funding.
Karlin said no, but there was a notification Campos Perez asked if there were a fee if the county was forced to stop using the service for lack of funding.
Karlin said no, but there was a notification requirement.
“But we’d be without dispatch services,” Shelton noted. “There’s not enough time to get that in place.”
There may be some help on the horizon, though. A fire chief had asked if the departments could help with the dispatch costs and the commissioners are going to look at that as well as checking on the 9-1-1 fees attached to each cell phone bill.
County clerk Heather Sawyer Spangler asked if those 9-1-1 fees were due to increase. Shelton said no, they should remain close to the same, about $9,000 every month. Spangler was unsure the county has been getting a check every month, and Shelton said he would look into that and determine if the checks were being sent timely.