(The Center Square) – Spokane County signaled Tuesday that not all is lost after its dispatch network kicked the city of Spokane from its regional model last week.
Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC, is the county’s primary Public Safety Answering Point, or PSAP. The organization routes 911 and crime check calls while dispatching fire and law enforcement services to nearby incidents between 20 agencies.
The Spokane Fire Department was also a part of the network until SREC’s Board of Directors voted last week to boot the city of Spokane altogether. The two have discussed bringing the Spokane Police Department into the fold for years, but those negotiations are now over.
While SREC recommended that the Board of County Commissioners allow the city to remain in its network until 2026 to implement its own model, the future is still uncertain.
“We’ve got professional dispatchers on both sides that do fabulous work,” SREC Board Chair Cody Rohrbach told the commissioners, “but we’ve never been able to move the discussion beyond what I would say some of the political frictions were.”
While SREC dispatches for all its member agencies, SPD has never fully committed, relying instead on its own service. The city wanted more board representation first, given it makes up most of the network’s call volume and provides more tax revenue than any other partner.
Mayor Lisa Brown and the board have been at odds over the last year, with SREC repeatedly extending SPD’s commitment deadline. The city also wants to eliminate SREC’s costly user fees, which fund its operations in addition to 911 excise tax revenue.
Brown previously said SREC could eliminate the fees and balance the budget with the excise tax and reserves it’s saving to build a new facility. Rohrbach said the city feels like it’s paying more than its share, given that it accounts for roughly 60% of the county’s calls despite only having 42% of the population.
“The board was pretty firm on not changing that and also a desire not to have any elected officials on the board with the exception of the sheriff, given that his sole responsibility is for public safety,” Rohrback said. “That was by design to try and weather some of the potential change in political environments that could occur.”
He said one reason for creating SREC was a perceived inequality between the city and its neighbors in the former model, which saw the city pay reduced rates. Despite Brown’s wishes, all the agencies outside of the city agreed to keep the user fees last year to fund a new facility.
The tipping point for SREC last week was support for legislation that would direct a portion of the 911 excise revenue toward the city instead of funding the regional dispatch network.
Commissioner Al French said they need a solution that fits each party. SREC can only levy the 911 excise tax revenue with voter support. Removing a large portion of that voter base could impact the county’s ability to renew the tax in a few years and potentially levels of service.
“Is the answer no, like permanently,” Rohrback said. “I would say no. I think the board’s totally willing to have a discussion.”
The Board of County Commissioners will discuss the SREC situation again on Jan. 27 before deciding on the city’s membership in the coming weeks.