The Grantsville City Council is reviewing its options after receiving a dispatch service agreement from Tooele County.
Councilmen and Mayor Brent Marshall expressed concern over rising dispatch fees, which would jump another $22,364, or about 31 percent, to $95,139 under the agreement from the county.
Grantsville and the county are operating under an expired contract and Marshall said the city has no input in the spending decisions of the county dispatch, which is overseen by the Tooele County Sheriff’s Office.
The county hired two additional dispatch employees near the end of 2014 and municipalities had no say in the decision, he said.
“In three years our dispatching fees have gone up more than 100 percent,” he said. “I don’t think that’s fair.”
Grantsville Police Chief Kevin Turner said meetings with the county indicate there could be another double-digit increase in dispatch fees next year as well.
“This is a difficult pill to swallow because we’re using 13 percent of dispatch as a user,” Turner said. “We’re paying between 16 and 20 percent. We’re subsidizing others.”
Grantsville City Council tabled a decision on the service agreement during its meeting Wednesday evening while it reviewed its options. If the city doesn’t accept the county’s offer, it could look to different agencies such as Valley Emergency Communications Center in West Valley City, which handles dispatch for various agencies in the Salt Lake Valley.
Turner said it’s possible there could be a slight delay in communication with other county agencies for mutual aid if Grantsville were to switch to a different frequency and provider.
A switch could still present problems for ensuring the degree of rate increases in the future, Councilman Scott Stice said.
“If we switch to this other system, we wouldn’t have any more say,” Stice said. “Our bill would just be lower.”
The city council unanimously approved tabling a vote on the county agreement to buy itself time to look into its options before it makes a decision on its dispatch provider.
“We don’t want to jeopardize anyone trying to save dollars,” said Councilman Mike Johnson.