If the money can be found, it appears Moore County will fund the purchase of new VIPER communications equipment needed to integrate municipal police, fire, and emergency medical services into the County's new narrowband emergency communications system.
The Moore County Board of Commissioners held a second Special Meeting on the transition to the State Highway Patrol's VIPER Communications system on Tuesday, February 21.
After an hour-long review of the VIPER system, the Board addressed the sole reason so many of Moore County first responders had gathered for the meeting: will the County fund the municipality portion to implement the VIPER system?
Sheriff's Chief Deputy Neil Godfrey presented the VIPER review, detailing the results of system testing throughout the county, as well as responding to criticisms of the Commissioners' selection of the VIPER system over other narrowband options.
But Southern Pines Fire Chief Hampton Williams was more interested in the bottom line.
“I have to say I am amazed and surprised that a simple request for funding turned into beating a dead horse again,” Williams told the Commissioners. “This whole thing started about asking you to fund the municipalities. I hope we don’t lose too much focus here.”
The shift to a narrowband emergency communications system, mandated by the Federal Communications Commission, must be made by January 1, 2013, giving Moore County first responders ten months to implement the system -- which would need to include training time.
“We've got ten months to put a program in order,” said Williams, “We need this thing implemented. We need time to train, practice, and use it.”
Godfrey mentioned in his presentation that one radio vendor critical of the VIPER system had suggested the county hire a consulting engineer to study VIPER and other options.
“I hope you don’t consider hiring a consultant and wasting valuable time that we could be putting this system into order,” Williams told the Board, “Training on it; identifying its weaknesses; if there are some, fixing those weaknesses; and being ready January 1 to switch.”
Commissioner Tim Lea said he did not agree with hiring an consultant, and the idea was quickly removed from the table.
Though no formal motion was made or vote taken, the Commissioners left little doubt that they would agree to cover the cost of radios and other VIPER equipment for the municipalities.
“If, in fact, everything plays out the way its been laid out on the table for us, then my vote would be for the County to fund this,” said Commissioner Lea.
One way to fund the system -- without raising taxes -- would be to shift .75 cents from the Advanced Life Support [ALS] tax to the property tax. That would be a tax increase rate of “zero,” explained Commissioner Nick Picerno, who co-authored the idea with Commissioner Lea.
“No tax increase for the citizens,” said Picerno. “The [tax] bill would be the same. It would just simply be in different pots of money.”
Commissioner Picerno told The Times that money from the ALS tax fund can only be used for specific items. If a portion of that money is transferred -- through a revision of the tax rates -- to the property tax fund, it could be used in multiple ways, including the implementation of the VIPER system.
Picerno told The Times that, by reducing the 2 cent ALS tax by .75 cents and increasing the property tax by that same amount, approximately $900,000 would be added to the General Fund each year.
Assistant County Manager Ken Larking briefed the Commissioners on options for paying for VIPER -- options that covered only $2.2 million of the $5.1 million projected cost of the transition. Over the course of three years, Picerno and Lea’s ALS tax plan would cover the bulk of the $2.9 million shortfall.
According to Larking’s presentation, two grants have been received: one for $27,000 for the Sheriff’s Department and one for $46,000 for EMS. It is possible that additional grants may be received to help pay for the transition.
Godfrey explained that a key advantage of VIPER is increasing the ability of county and municipal law enforcement, fire, and EMS to communicate with each other and with their counterparts in neighboring counties.
VIPER radio coverage in Moore County will be provided by tower sites in Carthage, Southern Pines, Tramway, Sprout Springs, McCain, Ellerbe, Biscoe, Siler City, and Coleridge.
The VIPER radio testing in Robbins has shown the radio coverage as “good” reported Godfrey.
One area in which VIPER coverage is substandard is the Lobelia area in the southern portion of the County. Godfrey said he hopes this will be corrected with the activation of the Southern Pines tower and possible adjustments to the Carthage Tower.
Godfrey told the Board: “I still believe that the VIPER system is the best long term solution for Moore County.”
Currently, there are 64,000 radio users on the VIPER system; 260 emergency agencies in North Carolina use the system.
