City May Charge More for Reminderville Emergency Services Agreement

Reminderville may soon be charged a higher price to continue using the city's dispatch service.

City council discussed entering into a new contract with the village for sharing the and dispatch center Tuesday night. The two communities have shared the service since 2008 and the most recent contract of $32,500 per year expired in December 2011.

No vote on the resolution was taken and it was tabled for a future meeting.

However, At-Large Councilman Bill Furey believes if the contract is renewed, the price should be raised to match the city's costs.

“I think we’re undercharging for this service,” Furey said. According to Furey, seven percent of calls into Twinsburg's dispatch center are from Reminderville. He'd like to see the village cover the cost of their usage in a new, three-year agreement, including adders based on shifting employee cost.

Twinsburg has $750,000 budgeted for its dispatch center in 2012. At seven percent, Reminderville would be charged around $52,000 for the service, a $20,000 increase.

“I think we can do better, and I think we should charge our neighbors for the true cost of our services,” Furey said. “I would like this to be put to a committee for discussion and not voted on tonight.”

Police Chief Chris Noga said he hasn't had formal discussions with the village on the issue, but there are many different options in charging for dispatch services.

“There’s not a hard-set formula for charging like this in the industry,” Noga said.

Mayor Katherine Procop said the city may look at per-call costs and try to figure out the fee based on those numbers.