There’s been some resolution over the issues with dispatch fees in Montrose County.
As we’ve reported, the county provides 911 dispatch services for police stations, fire departments, and emergency services all across the county, and in other counties.
The issue has been that the ‘subscription’ fees that these cities and towns pay to the county has skyrocketed in the past few years. It’s costing hundreds of thousands of dollars more for the same amount of calls. In these tight times and tighter budgets, it was going to mean deep cuts.
Bob Nicholson is the Mayor of the City of Montrose.
"All of us had to go back and look at our budgets, figure out what we could do, and shake the tree again. That process, for both governments, is many months of work," said Nicholson.
"It's probably at the heart of what a government does, which is take a hard look at their budget and look into the future. It's difficult, because everybody can figure out how to spend more. It's hard to figure out how to spend less. We did, and that's good. The county did, and that's also good. That allowed this agreement to take place."
Thanks to the Sheriff’s department adjusting their fees and the County adjusting their budget, the City of Montrose as well as other in-county towns, will have next years fees cut almost in half.