Doing away with the 911 emergency communications center in Bethlehem “would be a catastrophe for public safety,” declared Bethlehem Police Chief Mark DiLuzio.
DiLuzio made that statement at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting, in response to suggestions that the 911 center is becoming too expensive for Bethlehem to keep operating it.
The chief told council: “Catastrophe is a strong word to use, but I stand by it. If I didn’t, I wouldn’t have said it.”
The future of the city’s emergency 911 system was raised by council president J. William Reynolds.
“How much longer is the current system viable?” asked Reynolds.
He said the increasing cost to operate the 911 center is the major reason the city is facing a tax increase in 2015.
The city anticipates the total cost to operate its 911 system in 2015 will be $1 million more than this year, a jump from $3.6 million to $4.6 million, according to the proposed 2015 budget.
David Brong, the city’s business administrator, said the cost to operate Bethlehem’s the 911 center is the most significant part of the city’s proposed property tax increase for 2015 — which was at 6.2 percent when Mayor Robert Donchez announced his budget in early November.
Council will adopt the 2015 city budget on Dec. 16.
“If citizens want to keep their own 911 center, which I would agree with, we have to also let them know that this is the cost to maintain it and keep operating it,” said council member Bryan Callahan.
Reynolds said city residents “treasure the service that we receive” from the 911 center, “but, at the same time, there is certainly a financial cost to the system. Going forward, we have some tough decisions to make.”
The chiefs weigh in
Part of the money-saving solution discussed may be involve consolidating technology, if not entire 911 systems, with other municipalities, such as Northampton County, Lehigh County or Allentown.
“You just can’t go to the city 911 system and lock the door and pull the switch and say ‘we’re now on Northampton County’,” said Chief DiLuzio, adding it is more than just a 911 center and has secondary responsibilities beyond EMS, fire and police.
In addition to answering calls whenever someone hits 9-1-1 on their phones, he said its dispatchers also monitor 109 surveillance cameras in the city.
He indicated the 911 center is also the repository for “hundreds and hundreds of warrants” that are not in a national data basis.
“If you go the county, nobody’s going to monitor the cameras, nobody’s going to monitor the warrants,” said DiLuzio. “I don’t think serving the taxpayers’ needs can be reproduced by the county. It is a needed function of the city of Bethlehem for its citizens to have a 911 center in the city.”
He said people who call 9-1-1 in emergencies should get Bethlehem dispatchers who know exactly where they live.
“If you go to the county, you might get a dispatcher from Bangor who doesn’t know anything about the streets of Bethlehem.”
Fire Chief Robert Novatnack told council the city’s fire department gets a lot fewer 911 calls than the police department.
Novatnack said there are four branches of public safety: EMS, fire, police and the 911 center. He called the center “the lifeblood that keeps us together, with communication that is quick and precise. They’re very important to us.”
State 911 support declining
Between 2010 and 2013, the state paid for 75 percent of the total cost of the city’s 911 system, according to Reynolds.
But he said that number dropped to 56 percent in 2014 and is expected to be the same in 2015.
“You’re looking at a declining percentage of support coming from the state,” said Reynolds. “And it’s leaving the city, and the city’s taxpayers, with the decision about whether or not we want to continue our 911 service.”
He said the city is receiving less money from the state at the same time the costs to operate the 911 center are increasing. He added some of those rising costs are to meet state requirements to operate the system.
Reynolds said 911 is one of the most basic services the city is in charge of providing, “but the state continues to shortchange us in this particular area.”
“We are under-funded; the state needs to step up,” agreed Brong.
Mayor Donchez and Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski sent a letter to state officials to express their concern about declining state financial support for 911 services.
Reynolds said no state legislation has been introduced that would increase the state’s financial support for 911 centers.
“We are being to ask raises taxes, because nobody in Harrisburg wants to even allow a bill to exist that someone could sign on to,” said the council president.
Consolidation and collaboration
Robert Haffner, Bethlehem’s 911 director, told council one of his goals is “to collaborate as a region.”
Said Haffner: “The more we can collaborate, the more we can share infrastructure, the more we can share operations, I think that that’s better. But those are conversations that need to take place far above my pay grade.”
Regionalization and sharing resources “is something we really have to focus on going forward,” said council member Michael Recchiuti.
“A lot of people like the 911 center, myself included,” said Recchiuti. “But ultimately, we’re fiduciaries for the taxpayers. That’s our job. We have to make sure we’re doing the best with our tax money.
“Is it most efficient for us to be funding a 911 center that is going to be costing the taxpayers a lot more money in the future? Or looking for a merger with Northampton or Lehigh or Allentown and try to consolidate the costs that way?”
He added: “We’re in a tough spot; we can’t do anything now.”
Council member Eric Evans’ public safety committee plans to study the 911 issue during its meetings next year.
Evans said he will keep the issue on the front burner.
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