As Idaho prepares to upgrade its crumbling 911 system, a state watchdog agency is warning of funding and oversight challenges facing the project.
In a report released Thursday, the Office of Performance Evaluation said the Next Generation 911 upgrade will run out of cash by 2031 under the current funding system.
The Idaho Public Safety Communications Commission has approved $30.4 million in grants for the project so far, but it’s only expected to collect $4 million in fees from phone customers each year.
Most plans, including landlines, cell phones and voice over internet lines, are charged $1 monthly to pay for the physical emergency services infrastructure. Those with prepaid plans also pay a fee to their local organization that then gets remitted to the state.
Tasha Schreiter, one of the report’s authors, said local towns and counties are currently responsible for running their own systems.
“This arrangement might work in the short-term, but it leaves counties carrying responsibilities meant for a statewide authority,” said Schrieter. “So, in short, the state is building a statewide system without a statewide manager.”
The analysis found a central authority is needed to manage the shared infrastructure and ensure funding is being properly reported.
It recommends, among other things, to give an existing state commission the authority to develop and oversee the new 911 system.
Idaho’s current 911 technology is largely at the end of its lifespan and companies sometimes don’t support it any longer. At times, the maximum number of available lines are reduced and calls can go unanswered, according to the report.
“We owe our citizens the ability to connect to 911 centers 24 hours a day. Having a reliable system is significant,” said an anonymous emergency response agency employee cited in the report.
The outdated system also has trouble accurately locating calls placed from cell phones, which account for between 79-91% of 911 calls in recent years, according to the report.
Sometimes, a call is traced to a cell tower located in another county, or even another state, delaying help.
The Next Generation 911 upgrade would convert the system to a modern fiber network, which can quickly and accurately map your cell location and route the call to the correct agency.
Gov. Brad Little has tasked the state’s military division to oversee his response to the report.
Officials said they agree the fee payment process should be consolidated.
However, Adjutant General Timothy Donnellan said consolidation of oversight within a central body or agency isn’t an Idaho solution.
“While top-down unified systems can create simplicity, the successes of Idaho’s existing collaborative framework should be a foundational element of any future plan. Balancing state and local authority is critical to next generation 911’s success,” Donnellan said.
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