Moultonborough’s call for dispatch reform goes unanswered

CONWAY, NH — The town of Moultonborough is hoping to transform how the county dispatch services are funded to give towns with their own dispatch centers a break, and they are asking Conway and Wolfeboro for help.

The sheriff, meanwhile, who oversees the county dispatch center, doesn’t think that  a change would be a good thing.

“That at the very onset would be very tedious,” Sheriff Chris Conley said. The county doesn’t provide primary dispatch for those three communities, he said, but they do provide backup services. “We do have a fairly pivitol roll.”

Moultonborough, however, was clear in a letter they sent to the two other towns:

“Like you, Moultonborough maintains a virtual 24/7 local dispatch center at the expense of our local property taxpayers,” they said in a letter that went to the Conway and Wolfeboro selectmen. “This town also pays 22.6 percent of the roughly $750,000 budget for the county dispatch center.”

The rest of Carroll County gets subsidized dispatching, the letter argues, because Conway, Wolfeboro and Mounltonborough pay the bulk of the costs. “For Wolfeborough it means that your taxpayers are paying an additional $58,500, while Conway taxpayers pay an additional $43,000 above and beyond what they pay to support their local dispatch center. This added payment to the county simply subsidizes dispatching services for others.”

Sheriff Conley did not contest those numbers.

The letter goes on to say that while many Carroll County communities keep their local real estate taxes low by offering limited local services, the three communities that contribute the most don’t wind up using county services because they have their own. “Collectively, Moultonborough, Wolfeboro and Conway pay almost 50 percent of that real estate tax. We believe that there is an inherent unfairness in charging our communities a larger county tax than otherwise needed in order to provide a lower local tax rate to others.”

The letter, which also went to the sheriff, the county commissioners and the delegation, advocated for change: “We believe it is time for Carroll County to revisit how it funds the emergency dispatch services that it provides to these other entities who do not maintain their own dispatch centers at local taxpayer expense,” it said. The county needs to shift to a fee for service model, like Grafton, Hillsborough, Merrimack and Strafford counties. “We believe it is time to relieve our local property taxpayers of the burden of fully subsidizing other communities’ use of the county’s dispatch services.”

Sheriff Conley said he disagrees, that he has heard more about how counties that fund dispatch through fee for service are looking to get rid of that model.

What makes the most sense, he said, is a statewide system that is split up by county. But that isn’t likely to happen, he said. “It takes people out of their comfort zone.”

The delegation didn’t discuss the letter at their meeting earlier this month, nor did the Conway selectmen, who also got it this month.

There was, however, at least some interest in the proposal among the Conway board.

“I can already tell you I’d like it on the agenda,” selectman Michael DiGregorio said.

Read the story here.

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