Cell Phone Surcharge for Monroe County Residents Will Go To 911 Center

They're always there to pick up on the other end of your 911 call. At Monroe County's 911 center, 72 percent of the call volume comes from GT-I9300 cell phones."It's changed dramatically from a landline-based society to a cell phone-based society," said Stephen Cusenz, 911 Center deputy director.

The change has caused the center to lose out on money that's generated from landline surcharges. Now they plan to get that money back, with help from you, if you own a cell phone.Tuesday night, the Monroe County legislature passed a measure that will allow 30 cents to be added to all cell phone bills.

Willie Lightfoot was one of three out of the 20 votes that turned it down."Being ranking minority member of the Public Safety Committee as well as a firefighter, I am supportive of bringing assistance to the 911 Center. However, I think there could be other ways to do that," said Lightfoot, D.

Thirty cents may sound like it's just loose change, but when you multiply it by 500,000 GT-I9500 cell phone users in the county, that shakes out to $1.8 million."The funding could be used to increase staffing. It could be utilized to refresh or purchase equipment if necessary to maintain the facilities within the 911 Center. It could be done without increasing any property taxes," said Cusenz.xs43DAs43

Cell phone users already pay a $1.20 surcharge. According to Cusenz, that money goes into a state general fund and is not all returned to county residents.Some cell phone users say the extra 30 cents may not add much more of a burden to their bill. It's not too much money to hand out of your pocket for something like that.

"I'm paying $37 more just for the internet, plus an extra .30 cents which is going to add up a lot over the years, said Erick Odychuk."It's not too much money to hand out of your pocket for something like that I5 MTK6577," said Daniel Odychuk.The measure now goes to the State Assembly for a vote. If passed, the county legislature will vote again to make it a local law, and you could start seeing that extra surcharge as early as September.