SIOUX FALLS, SD — Here in South Dakota when you pay your phone bill each month, you’re paying an extra 75-cent surcharge to fund 911 services statewide, but Sioux Falls metro is seeing a big drop in funding from one company.

According to metro communications, the revenue they get from AT&T Mobility/New Cingular wireless has dropped by about 66% since the beginning of the year.

So metro is investigating just what happened to that money.

The men and women working the call center at Sioux Falls metro rely on the 75 cents from your phone bill.  Metro Director Daren Ketcham says, “that money is very important to us.”

According to Ketcham, the surcharge covers 55% of operations, taxes cover the other 45%. and the drop of 66% of at&t funds alone is 12% of the yearly operating costs, about 240,000 dollars.   He says, “we haven’t seen the rebound with this AT&T reduction in any of our other providers,” that got Ketch’s attention, because usually a drop in one company means a rise in another.

It’s so unusual, the South Dakota 911 Coordination Board has agreed to pay for an independent audit into AT&T to make sure no money is missing.  Ketcham says, “look at what they’ve collected and then what they’ve turned over to us to make sure those two numbers balance.”

AT&T declined an interview with us, but South Dakota spokesman Alex Carey did confirm the drop in 911 funds and issued this statement, “AT&T is actively investigating the factors which might have led to this reduction and will continue updating the county on a regular basis as we work together towards a mutually acceptable resolution.”  Ketcham says, “the indication is they’re gonna cooperate and open their books to review.”

Ketcham says if AT&T’s 66% is truly lost, metro will not need to cut staff or services in the short term.  He says they have reserve money to cover a loss, but Ketcham says if this turns into a long term trend, that could put more pressure on local taxpayers.  He says, “ultimately it will come down to the City of Sioux Falls and Minnehaha County to pay for the 911 service.”

A service Ketcham says covers about 90,000 emergency calls each year…That’s more than 240 calls on average per day.  Ketcham says, “we serve as that lifeline between whatever incident you’re having in your life and the first responders on their way.”

Ketcham expects early results from the audit in January or February.

He says he will also be working with the South Dakota State Legislature this year to raise the price of the phone bill surcharge.  Ketcham says it’s been 75 cents since the state law was originally passed in 1989.

Read the story here.