FARMINGTON – Commissioners set fiscal year 2015’s county tax rate and approved a $20,000 request for radio transmission upgrades and paving during their meeting on Tuesday morning.
Approved was a tax assessment rate of $1.08 per $1,000 of property valuation, for a total assessment of $5,033,899. The new rate represents a 2-cent increase from the last fiscal year of $1.06 per $1,000 of property valuation. (Below is each town and unorganized township tax share.)
As part of the motion, commissioners also approved a budget overlay of $9,539 for unexpected expenses. If those funds aren’t utilized, they will go back into the county’s undesignated fund reserve account.
Last month, commissioners and the budget committee set the 2014-2015 budget total at $5,651,249, which represents a 2.5 percent increase over the current fiscal year.
In other matters, Stan Wheeler, director of the The Franklin County Regional Communication Center, requested $5,000 for paving the center’s parking lot and $15,000 in upgrades to the radio transmission system.
The biggest complaint he gets is poor radio reception in various areas around the county.
“It’s a real concern,” Wheeler said, when responding emergency personnel don’t have reliable radio transmission in some areas of the county.
An advisory committee consisting of Sheriff Scott Nichols, Emergency Management Agency director, Tim Hardy; Farmington Fire Chief Terry Bell and Farmington Deputy Chief Clyde Ross with Wheeler, have been studying the issue and made the recommendations for $26,000 in immediate upgrades to the communications system.
The group proposed replacing the existing base radios at the center. At the same time, radio transmission towers off Mosher Hill Road in Farmington are in need of site improvements, Hardy said.
A long-term solution includes replacing all radios and a new transmission tower on Mt. Blue.
Commissioner Fred Hardy of New Sharon, complained that more money was being requested for the new 2,200 square foot communications center that opened in April. It was primarily paid for out of a $600,000 bond approved by voters at referendum in 2012.
“We just continue to pump money into the communications center,” he said. Wheeler noted that no money had been spent in the last 15 years on radios.
Commissioner Gary McGrane of Jay, said he was disappointed that these requests didn’t come during the budgetary process completed last month.
“This money should have been put in the budget then,” McGrane said.
Commissioner Clyde Barker of Strong, noted of the center, “the people voted for it; we put old equipment in a new building,” he said referring to the radios.
Commissioners approved using $15,000 from the county’s undesignated fund reserve account, with $5,000 coming from the sheriff’s budget and another $6,000 from a grant administered through the county’s EMA office.
Paving the parking lot on the side of the communications center and constructing a walkway to the door dispatchers use for an estimate of $5,000 was also approved by commissioners. The lower estimate was the result of the area all ready having been supplied with gravel. Wheeler described the lot in need of paving as a quagmire during mud season this year.
Below is the county’s valuations and tax share of each of its towns and unorganized townships:
Wish they would upgrade it to forward 911 calls to State Police in the towns they cover, I called a couple of weeks ago, and was told State Police is covering that area you have to hang up and call them, so essentially 2 weeks a month or half the year we can’t use 911 so exactly what are we paying for, I thought with the new dispatch center this issue would be eliminated?
i think the center is capable of transfering that call and should have done so ,the county dispatchers are always talking to state police on the radio’s so they should have saved time and takin the call .even when the state police are covering a area there always a couple deputy’s covering the same area too. the enhanced 911 system should be able to transfer calls directly if i’m right .
This is in response to J.D. Power’s comment: Franklin County’s emergency dispatchers have always had the ability to transfer 9-1-1 calls to the Maine State Police, or any other emergency dispatch center in Maine as appropriate. However, if a person residing in an area that is being covered by Maine State Police due to the call sharing arrangement that the Sheriff’s Department has with MSP, and that call is NOT an emergency call, it is quite likely that the dispatcher would advise the caller to call MSP on their non-emergency number. The reason for this is we are cautious about tying up emergency resources for non-emergencies. That would be the ONLY situation in which our dispatcher would advise a caller to call MSP directly. If there is an emergency in progress, our dispatcher will take enough information to correctly understand the situation and IMMEDIATELY transfer the caller to MSP. And, if the situation warrants it, that same dispatcher will also advise county deputies of the situation and dispatch them as well.
I hope this clears things up. If not, anyone is welcome to call me at 778-6140 and I can try to explain it further. Also, everyone should be aware that we are having an Open House at the Franklin County Communications Center on August 6th from 1 – 3 p.m. All citizens of Franklin County are welcome to come visit the Center and ask any questions they would like.
Stan Wheeler,
Director of Communications
Franklin County Regional Communications Center