Lee County, IA – Lee County's new centralized emergency dispatch center is scheduled to open October 1.
The new facility is located inside the Lee County Jail. It will feature three dispatchers and replace the call centers in Keokuk, Fort Madison, and at the jail.
Lee County will pay for employee benefits and the initial equipment purchase from revenue generated by a county-wide tax. The cost of salaries would be shared by all of the partners in the facility.
That has been the sticking point as the facility nears completion.
The Lee County Board of Supervisors has officially gone on record that tax dollars from rural residents will be used to pay the county's portion of the salaries for the center's employees. That was the county's plan from the start, until state auditors questioned whether all residents would have to pay.
The idea of city residents being taxed twice for the salaries led to opposition letters, talk of lawsuits, and threats of withholding payments.
Supervisor Larry Kruse says the county's latest resolution should resolve those concerns. He says city residents will not be charged twice.
Kruse says Lee County will pay its share from carry-over in the rural basic tax levy fund and will set aside general funds for the benefits next year.
Kruse says the state auditors are still concerned about the use of rural tax dollars. But he says they would defer to the opinion of County Attorney Mike Short.
Kruse says Short developed the resolution that the supervisors approved.
Kruse hopes the approved resolution will allow the center to open on time. This comes a week after Kruse brought up the idea of delaying the opening because of funding concerns.
In other action
The Lee County Board of Supervisors
- reclassified two employees in the Lee County Sheriff's Office.
- re-appointed John Schier to the Lee County Veterans Affairs Commission
- approved a liquor license for the Argyle Ball Association.
- approved employee salaries for the new fiscal year.