Florida Sheriffs Association’s

2002 Annual Administrative Management Training Seminar

Track II, Accounting & Finance

Accounting for 911 Funds

Daytona BeachMay 8, 2002 @ 10:45 am

STATE TECHNOLOGY OFFICE Winston E. Pierce, Chief

Bureau of Policy and Regulation Services and

Wireless 911 Board Chairman

911

http://www.state.fl.us/dms/e911Florida

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Board Membership• Chairperson--Director, State Technology

Office (State CIO) or his/her designee• 3 Wireless Industry Representatives (Dr.

Rodney Bent, CellTrax; Harriet Eudy, Alltel Communications and Mario Jardon, Cingular Wireless)

• 3 County 911 Coordinators (Pat Welte, Duval-large county; Bruce Thorburn, Lake-medium county and Nelson Green, Bradford-small county)

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Jim Martin, Communications Engineer

• Statewide 911 Coordinator

• Technical Advisor to Wireless 911 Board

• Telephone: 850-922-7445

• Mobile: 850-228-4055

• FAX: 850-488-0445

• E-Mail: martinj@dms.state.fl.us or jim.martin@MyFlorida.com

“Everything you ever wanted to know about 911 in Florida but

were afraid to ask” is at:

Chapter 365.171, FS Wireline

Chapter 365.172, FS Wireless

Chapter 365.173, FS Wireless TF

Chapter 365.174, FS Confidentiality

911 Emergency Telephone Number PlanFlorida

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WEB SITE

http://www.state.fl.us/dms/e911

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County 911 Coordinator• BCC is responsible fiscal agent• BCC designates a knowledgeable 911 coordinator• Single Point of Contact for State• Coordinates with all agencies within county that are part

of the 911 system.• High level position to accomplish the objectives of the

BCC for the 911 system• Recommended report County Manager or Assistant

County Manager

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County 911 Coordinators

0

10

20

30

40

50

SheriffCounty

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911 System Expenses* Use of Funds restricted by FS

365.171(13)(a)6

13%

3%

39%

35%

9% 1%EquipmentMaintenanceOperating Supplies

Calltaker Salaries

ALI Database

AdministrativeSalariesPublic Education

Language Line: Translator Service for Non-English Speaking

Callers - Duval

0100200300400500600700800900

1000

1991

1992

1993

1994

1995

1996

1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

Total Calls

Translator Services – 911 Calls

During Calendar Year 2001 Duval• 26 languages used

• 989 calls

Arabic

BosnianRussian

Other

Albanian

Spanish

Vietnamese

REVENUE

Chapter 365.171, FS Wireline

Chapter 365.172, FS Wireless

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ALL revenue must be deposited into a separate interest bearing

account and the interest earned must stay in

the account!

Auditor General’s Wireless 911 Board Audit - Year 2 -

Recommends Separate Account for each Source of Funds

County Sets Wireline FeeBCC or Referendum-$0.50 max.

Wireline Fee Paid directly to the County by Telephone Company

Wireline - 25 access lines per account (limitation per account billed)

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In 1999 -- 11,029,560 Wireline Access Lines that produced $66,177,360 Annually-Stable/Decreasing

Wireline - Attorney General’s Opinion No. 87 - 29 -- State Government is exempt from paying 911 fee (has been interpreted to be all government)

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Statewide Wireless Fee - $0.50 (max. $0.50)

Wireless - No Limitations

12/2001 -- 7,500,000 Wireless Subsgenerating $45,000,000 Annually-Increasing

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Wireless Fee Paid to Wireless 911 BoardBoard Distributes:

44% to Counties - Primary place of use54% to Providers (up to 2% for Board) 2% to Rural Counties in Grants or

Reimbursable LoansWireless - Recent questions as to government’s exemption from paying wireless 911 fee

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Expenditures

Chapter 365.171 (13)(a) 6, FS

Wireline and Wireless

(and grants)

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It is the intent of the Legislature that the "911" fee authorized by this section to be imposed by counties will not necessarily

provide the total funding required for establishing or providing the "911" service. For purposes of this section, "911" service

includes the functions of database management, call taking, location

verification, and call transfer. Florida

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The following costs directly attributable to the establishment and/or provision of "911" service are eligible for expenditure of moneys derived from imposition of the "911" fee authorized by this section: the acquisition, implementation, and maintenance of Public Safety Answering Point (PSAP) equipment and "911" service features, as defined in the Florida Public Service Commission's lawfully approved "911" and related tariffs

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and/or the acquisition, installation, and maintenance of other "911" equipment,

including call answering equipment, call transfer equipment, ANI controllers, ALI controllers,

ANI displays, ALI displays, station instruments, "911" telecommunications systems, teleprinters, logging recorders, instant playback recorders,

telephone devices for the deaf (TDD) used in the "911" system, PSAP backup power systems,

consoles, automatic call distributors, Florida

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and interfaces (hardware and software) for computer-aided dispatch (CAD) systems; salary and associated expenses for "911" call takers for that portion of their time spent taking and transferring "911" calls; salary and associated expenses for a county to employ a full-time equivalent "911" coordinator position and a full-time equivalent staff assistant position per county for the portion of their time spent administrating the "911" system;

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training costs for PSAP call takers in the proper methods and techniques used in taking and transferring "911" calls; expenses required to develop and maintain all information (ALI and ANI databases and other information source repositories) necessary to properly inform call takers as to location address, type of emergency, and other information directly relevant to the "911" call-taking and transferring function;

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and, in a county defined in s. 125.011(1), such expenses related to a nonemergency "311" system, or similar nonemergency system, which improves the overall efficiency of an existing "911" system or reduces "911" emergency response time for a 2-year pilot project that ends June 30, 2003.

(my understanding is this applies to Miami-Dade County only)

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However, no wireless telephone service provider shall be required to participate in this pilot project or to otherwise implement a nonemergency "311" system or similar nonemergency system. The "911" fee revenues shall not be used to pay for any item not listed, including, but not limited to,

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any capital or operational costs for emergency responses which occur after the call transfer to the responding public safety entity and the costs for constructing buildings, leasing buildings, maintaining buildings, or renovating buildings, except for those building modifications necessary to maintain the security and environmental integrity of the PSAP and "911" equipment rooms.

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EXPENSES NOT ALLOWED•Computer Aided Dispatch equipment,

software, display units, etc. (CAD)

•Buildings

•Anything with “Wheels”

•Personal Items (Caps, Shirts, Belts, Bullets, Badges, etc.)

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EXPENSES NOT ALLOWED•Automatic Vehicle Location systems or

equipment (AVL)

•Radio/Dispatch Consoles

•Street Signs and Sign Posts

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Statutorily, 9-1-1 is nothing more than a “call delivery” system. But to the caller and the general public, 9-1-1 is a continuous process from the time they initiate the 9-1-1 call until the emergency is resolved.

ALLOWABLE EXPENDITURES•Database Information--Telephone

Company Order activity

•Equipment used to answer the 911 call and transfer to responding agency

•Equipment to store, retrieve and display information about the 911 call

•Environmental and security improvement costs for the PSAP Florida

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ALLOWABLE EXPENDITURES

•Database Management

•Mapping/Addressing

•Public Education

•Training costs for 911 Call Takers (not dispatch Training)

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ALLOWABLE EXPENDITURES

•9-1-1 Coordinator and Staff Assistant*

•9-1-1 Call Takers*

•*Take note that many allowable personnel expenses are based upon “time spent” actually involved with 911 as defined by statute.

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Calculation of Time

•9-1-1 Coordinator and Staff Assistant–Estimate on % of time increments

•9-1-1 Call Takers–Number of Calls received multiplied by the average time to receive and transfer the call presented as a portion of a FTE position

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Rural County Grant Program

•Priorities• #1--Rural Counties w/o E911• #2--Rural Counties that need to

replace critical or necessary components

• #3--Rural Counties requesting system upgrades related to wireless impacts

• #4--Other requests

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Rural County Grant Program

•Schedule• Application Deadline - 2/28/02• Evaluation of Applications - March

and April 2002• Recommendations to Board for

Funding - April and May 2002• Grant Checks Issued - before June 30,

2002Florida

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Grant Program• March 12, 2002• 5 Non-Recurring Priority One (P1) Awards

for $686,400 (FAW 4/5)• April 16, 2002• 11 Awards (1-P1 and 10-P2) for $246,338

(FAW 5/3)• 1-P1 Pending at Board - $125,000• Total Available=$1,136,144(est.)• Total Awarded=$1,057,738

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Other Issues• Audits• Provide STO a copy of the county’s

annual audit (showing the 911 funds)

• DMS Inspector General’s Audit Office is Auditing the Special Appropriations in FY96/97 through FY99/00 for E911

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Other Issues• Audits (Con’t.)• The Auditor General is

conducting their 3rd annual audit of the Wireless 911 Board.

• 1st Year’s Report # 01-103 • 2nd Year’s Report # 02-114 @

http://www.state.fl.us/audgen

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Issues of Concern• Ability to Access 911--Pay--“Everybody Pays”• Large Fluctuations in subscribers reported by

county (See Web Site Excel Spreadsheet)• Funding for Phase II, Wireless Enhanced 911

Service is still short-Advances in Technology continues to improve these cost estimates!

• Delays in Phase I and Phase II Implementation Are you ready-Have you requested????

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THANK YOU !!!

• Winston E. Pierce, Chair• State of Florida Wireless 911 Board• Chief, Policy and Regulation Services• 4030 Esplanade Way, Suite 235M• Tallahassee, FL 32399-0950• 850-922-7501• 850-488-0445 FAX• winston.pierce@MyFlorida.com• http://www.state.fl.us/dms/e911

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