Subject: [NEXTEL-1] D.C. Officials Fight over Fate of E-911 Funds

From: Marcel <[email-masked]>
Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 15:52:26 -0400

D.C. Officials Fight over Fate of E-911 Funds

Some Washington, D.C. officials favor using the proceeds of a cell phone surcharge only
for the purpose for which it was collected – improvements to the city's 911 emergency
response systems. Others want to use part of the money for different budget priorities. In
the three years since the 76-cent surcharge has been collected from D.C. cell phone users,
$12 million has been accumulated.

Of that amount, some officials want to take $2 million to cover a citywide
budget gap. Wireless companies vehemently oppose diverting the funds,
saying that the money should be used to upgrade emergency dispatch centers
to automatically receive location information on 911 calls from cell phones. A
final vote by city council members on the fate of the funds is scheduled for April
29.

=====================================================================================
D.C. Plan to Tap 911 Fund Assailed
Wireless Carriers Say Cell Phone Fees Are for Upgrade, Not City Budget Gap

By Petula Dvorak
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, April 19, 2003; Page B02

Every month, cell phone users in the District are charged an extra 76 cents each on their
phone bills, money that goes straight
into a government fund to help create a "911" safety net for their emergency calls.
And every year, the local government tries to use that money for something else.

Cell phone companies have long grumbled about the District's delay in creating an enhanced
911 -- or E911 -- system for their
phones, but the growl turned into an uproar this week when the District government
proposed taking $2 million from the 911
fund to help cover a citywide budget shortfall.

"Such a raid on the 911 fund is an insult to the District's telecommunications customers,
particularly our wireless service
customers who now pay 76 cents each month for 911 service and still do not have the
protection of E911 service," said
Kathleen Kittrick, an AT&T Wireless official, speaking for a coalition of carriers that
challenged District officials this week.
The surcharge, listed at the bottom of every cell phone bill, has been collected for about
three years in the District. The fee,
which helps pay for the 911 system, is meant to fund improvements that would allow 911
call-takers to capture call-back
numbers and would pinpoint a cell phone caller's location. Rescuers' response to a fire in
January that killed three people in
Chillum was slowed by the inability to locate a 911 caller. Other deaths across the
country also have been attributed to the 911
shortcomings.

"The government established the fund, it collected the money and then nothing happened. I
think it's just a matter of inertia,''
said D.C. Council member Phil Mendelson (D-At Large), chairman of the council's
subcommittee on public interest.
The District is set to start upgrading its 911 system in May so the system can capture
call-back numbers, said Suzanne Peck,
the city's chief technology officer. The process is expected to take about six months,
Peck said.
In a budget markup session for the subcommittee Thursday, Mendelson and the two other
council members at the hearing, Jim
Graham (D-Ward 1) and Vincent B. Orange Sr. (D-Ward 5), voted to deny the $2 million
budget transfer. A final vote is set
for April 29.

But because the District collects about $7.6 million annually from the surcharge, there is
already enough money in the fund --
about $12 million -- to pay for all the improvements without the $2 million that would be
transferred to the general fund, said
Margret Nedelkoff Kellems, D.C. deputy mayor for public safety.

"None of us are eager to give up money," Kellems said. But at a time when the District is
considering closing swimming pools,
limiting subsidized child care and cutting back on police hiring, the city should be
allowed to redirect $2 million meant for 911,
she said.

Carriers say it doesn't make sense for them to improve their equipment until local
governments make their call centers
technologically compatible. That won't happen, the carriers say, if local governments raid
the 911 fund.
Kellems says that cell phone companies are fighting the District's attempt to redirect the
$2 million because the District has the
option to reimburse the cell phone companies for their upgrades, but local legislation
doesn't mandate that payment.
The wireless carriers, however, say it's not about the reimbursement option.

"It's a shame that before the D.C. government has even begun upgrading its 911 answering
center, they're deciding to use this
money for other things. . . . It's not about the money; it's about public safety," said
Travis Larson, spokesman for the Cellular
Telecommunications Industry Association.

In 1996, the Federal Communications Commission began enacting regulations to give
cell-phone 911 calls the same safety
features as land-line calls. First, cell phones will be required to have the technology to
display their numbers when they pop up
on caller ID. In turn, 911 call centers will be required to upgrade their phones so they
can read these numbers. The FCC wants
the technology upgrades completed by the end of 2005.

But Mendelson worries that the money for the District's improvements won't be there once
implementation begins. He said that
budget cutbacks and the District's overall lack of concern for 911 have contributed to
delays in creating the safety net and
improving 911 services.

"I think it just hasn't been a priority for some, but complaints about 911 are what the
council hears everywhere we go,"
Mendelson said. He suggests that if the District government has enough money to make the
E911 improvements, it should use
the $2 million to hire more 911 operators.

He cited a letter that Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) wrote to Council Chairman Linda W.
Cropp (D-At Large) in October
committing to an audit of the E911 fund.

"Every penny from the E911 Fund will go to -- and is necessary for -- funding improvements
in our E911 system," Williams
said in the letter.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A53343-2003Apr18.html

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