|
« Legislative News At a Glance: 911 Services Fees
By Paul Emerson,
TAC State Financial Analyst
Just recently, the TAC County Information Project (CIP) was asked to prepare a synopsis about the Commission on State Emergency  Communications (CSEC), particularly 911 Emergency Services Fees (911 ESF) and the amount of money being generated and made available to CSEC.1 Monies from 911 ESF are generated through a $0.50 fee levied on land line and wireless phones. In addition, 2 percent of retail sales on prepaid wireless services are also a part of the 911 ESF collections, which started June 1, 2010.
This article will narrow the study focus and examine the available cash balances in fund 5050 reported in the Comptroller’s annual cash reports. This particular fund is primarily made up of two revenue codes: 3647 (911 ESF) and 3851 (interest earned on state deposits). These revenue codes are reflected in the total revenue column below for each year. As of the new fiscal year beginning Sept. 1, 2009, the 911 ESF total collections were $58.1 million, which also includes $2.6 million in earned interest.
The chart below reveals several key points about this particular general dedicated fund. Total revenue has increased by 34.4 percent from FY2003 to FY2009, while expenditures have increased considerably — 73.9 percent during the same time period. If this trend continues, expenditures will soon outpace revenues in the very near future. This is partially due to an unusual increase of $11 million that occurred in FY2009 compared to expenditure amounts for previous years. However, 911 ESF has a healthy cash balance on hand — it has increased by 97.5 percent from FY2003 to FY2009. Most interestingly, FY2003 expenditures were equal to 73.5 percent of total revenue and by 2009, expenditures had grown to 95.1 percent of total revenue.
CSEC oversees the 911 service program, but how much funding is allocated to the program is determined by how much the Legislature appropriates to CSEC. It appears from the cash report a significant of amount of funds are expended through intergovernmental payments — likely to the 24 Regional Planning Commissions (RPC).
CIP has requested additional information from the Comptroller’s office via open record requests which had not been made available at the time of this report. Another update will be provided once CIP receives the information.
For more information on this article, please contact Paul Emerson, TAC state financial analyst, at (800) 456-5974 or paule@county.org.
________________________
1 Included on this website is a briefing paper on “next generation” 911 systems by the National Conference of State Legislatures.
|
