KALAMAZOO (WKZO-AM) — Kalamazoo officials have been innovators and leaders in the ways they provide many governmental services. For example, consider the Kalamazoo Public Safety concept, the Kalamazoo Promise, the alternative courts and the transportation Merger.
But when it comes to consolidated 911 dispatch, the county is one of the last in the state of Michigan to get it in place. Attempts to unify the county’s five separate emergency systems have always failed, usually tripped up by disagreements over financing.
County Board Chair John Taylor said, this time, they are closer than ever to an agreement.
Taylor said their tentative deal involves the municipal units paying for a lot of the costs, which would be supplemented by a small surcharge on cell phones to cover the rest.
He said they are still tweaking the final figures. Taylor informed the rest of the board Tuesday that they will be looking for an existing structure instead of building new, and finding other ways to cut costs.
He said voters will have to approve the request for a surcharge.
That proposal will be back to the Kalamazoo County Commission in a few weeks, with a recommendation they put the question on the ballot next May.
