Marshall County’s rural areas will continue receiving dispatch assistance past January 1st.
Agreements were approved between the county and its local units of government to supply dispatch services to those areas past the deadline.
In recent months, an oversight committee was formed consisting of county, town, police, and other representatives to develop a fair method of distributing the expense of providing dispatch services to all areas of the county.
For example, Plymouth uses a greater amount of dispatch resources than a community with a smaller population. It has therefore been determined that Plymouth should be paying more for that service.
Local governments have been made aware of their cost burden and have approved the intergovernmental agreements.
Culver will be paying about $10-thousand into the dispatch services fund while Argos is paying about $8,300. Some townships are paying several hundred dollars for fire and EMS services. How to fund those expenses out of their budgets is up to the individual towns.
The cost of dispatch services has been a growing concern in Marshall County. Local communities may have been at risk of supplying their own dispatch services without the aid of Marshall County without signing the agreements.
The Marshall County Commissioners at their meeting Monday morning approved the agreements on the county’s end unanimously.
