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La Salle County Board delays decision on 911 funding formula · Illinois Valley - Shaw Local

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  Speaker 1: LaSalle County Board delays decision on nine hundred and eleven
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  Speaker 1: funding formula. Written by Merribeth of Wilson, This article is
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  Speaker 1: being read by an automated voice brought to you by Everlett.
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  Speaker 1: The LaSalle County Board voted Thursday to indefinitely postpone rescinding
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  Speaker 1: a resolution that opposes changes to the nine hundred and
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  Speaker 1: eleven surcharge fee funding formula. The postponement came after a
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  Speaker 1: three hour discussion that began with Mendota's request to switch
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  Speaker 1: its emergency dispatch services from Illinois Valley Valley Regional Dispatch
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  Speaker 1: to the LaSalle County Sheriff's Office, a move that exposed
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  Speaker 1: deeper questions about the county's dispatch funding model. The county's
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  Speaker 1: existing resolution, previously approved by the board, notifies the Joint
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  Speaker 1: Emergency Telephone Systems Board that LaSalle County opposes any funding
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  Speaker 1: formula other than the current per capita distribution. Mendota Police
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  Speaker 1: Chief Jason Martin opened the discussion by arguing the city
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  Speaker 1: should switch dispatch services to reduce costs. This is not
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  Speaker 1: about dissatisfaction with employees of ivr D, Martin said, it
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  Speaker 1: is about being responsible with taxpayer dollars if we receive
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  Speaker 1: the same level of professional service while significantly reducing costs.
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  Speaker 1: I believe we have an obligation to seriously consider that
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  Speaker 1: Mendota currently pays about three hundred nine thousand dollars annually
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  Speaker 1: for dispatch services through IVRD, plus an additional one hundred
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  Speaker 1: twenty one thousand dollars in related staffing costs, bringing the
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  Speaker 1: total to roughly four hundred thirty thousand dollars yearly. Martins
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  Speaker 1: said the sheriff's office and the county's nine hundred and
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  Speaker 1: eleven director offered to take on Mendota's dispatch for twenty
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  Speaker 1: five thousand dollars plus approximately one hundred thousand dollars in
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  Speaker 1: nine hundred and eleven surcharge fees, a significant reduction, Martin said.
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  Speaker 1: But Lasal Finance Banks director and IVRD member John Duncan
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  Speaker 1: countered that the county would lose money on the deal.
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  Speaker 1: He said a fair market value offer would be three
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  Speaker 1: hundred forty seven thousand dollars, not the one hundred twenty
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  Speaker 1: five thousand dollars proposed. He also noted the county could
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  Speaker 1: not guarantee it would receive Mendota's portion of the nine
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  Speaker 1: hundred and eleven surcharge funds, about one hundred thousand dollars
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  Speaker 1: which likely would not pass through JETESB. Duncan added that
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  Speaker 1: taking on Mendota's dispatch would increase the county service area
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  Speaker 1: by more than seventeen percent, from a population of forty
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  Speaker 1: thousand to roughly forty seven thousand. The discussion revealed the
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  Speaker 1: county's four point one million dollars in unallocated nine hundred
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  Speaker 1: and eleven surcharge funds and raise questions about whether the
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  Speaker 1: current funding model adequately reflects which communities the county actually serves.
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  Speaker 1: A newly formed six person JESSB Committee is investigating whether
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  Speaker 1: changes are needed to how nine hundred and eleven surcharge
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  Speaker 1: funds are distributed among the centers. The board voted twenty
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  Speaker 1: two to one to table the decision to rescind the
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  Speaker 1: resolution indefinitely, pending the committee's recommendation expected after September. Board
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  Speaker 1: member Ronald Blue District twenty five voted against the postponement,
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  Speaker 1: citing the lengthy discussion. The LaSalle County Board will meet
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  Speaker 1: at one pm Thursday, August thirteenth