AG 1996 12 16 - Laserfiche WebLink

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3. 911 fees Seek legislation to increase flexibility in the use of fees generated for Emergency 911 Services in order to expand the ability of counties to enhance these services; and to allow 911 surcharge fees to be charged to cellular and other wireless telephones. Cellular and wireless producers should be required to install equipment necessary to locate cellular users for "enhanced 911" purposes. (Wake County and 1995 Goal). In 1989, The General Assembly enacted the "Public Safety Telephone Act" i~uthorizing the imposition ora monthly "911 charge" through telephone bills paid by subscribers. Chapter 587, Session Laws of 1989, codified as Chapter 62A of the North Carolina General Statutes. G.S. 62A-8 provides that the funds raised through these fees, placed in an "Emergency Telephone Fund," could "be used only to pay for: 1) The lease, purchase, or maintenance of emergency telephone equipment, including necessary computer hardware, software and database provisioning, addressing, and non- recurring costs of establishing a 911 system, and 2) The rates associated with the service supplier's 911 service and other service supplier recurring charges." The statute also provides that "The following expenses are not eligible for payment from the Fund: the lease or purchase of real estate, cosmetic remodeling of emergency dispatch centers, hiring, training, and compensating dispatchers, and the purchase of mobile communications vehicles, ambulances, fire engines, or other emergency vehicles." The Act makes no provision for the imposition of911 charges on users of cellular telephone devices in much greater use than when the Act was ratified. In 1995, the Association supported legislation to expand the uses for these funds. The proposal to impose these fees on users of cellular phones is new this year. 4. Funding for Entitlement Programs Seek legislation to require the State of North Carolina to assume a greater burden of financial responsibility for social programs, specifically Food Stamps, Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Medicaid and Special Assistance, or similar programs. (Annual Conference Resolution) The total cost of these four programs in North Carolina (federal, state and local funds) is over $5 billion. Of this total, county expenditures total over $417 million, according to funding estimates provided by the Department of Human Resources. The percentages of expenditures borne by counties as well as the total county dollars spent for administration and for direct payments in each of the four programs are broken out as follows: