More metro Atlanta counties have joined Gwinnett and Cobb in filing lawsuits against telecommunications companies they say aren’t properly collecting — and sharing — fees meant to help keep 911 service centers up and running.
The lost fees, the governments suggest, are left to be accounted for by local taxpayers.
Gwinnett and Cobb counties filed their lawsuits against 15 companies in December 2015, claiming they were missing out on $8 million and $9 million in fees each year, respectively. Last week, 16 more Georgia counties filed their own suits in United States District Court, as well as a few local courts: Clay, Crisp, DeKalb, Dooly, Fulton, Macon-Bibb, Marion, Muscogee, Quitman, Randolph, Talbot, Taylor, Schley, Stewart, Sumter and Webster.
State law allows governments that provide 911 services to collect fees of up to $1.50 from each telephone customer, then use that money to pay for 911 center equipment, training and other improvement. Telephone companies generally collect the fee on the monthly bills they send to customers, take a small cut to pay for administrative costs and give the rest to the governments.
The lawsuits allege, however, that the companies under-counted the number of telephone lines when assessing 911 fees. The documents specifically point to technology that allows multiple phone lines to use a single telephone number simultaneously.
Former Georgia Gov. Roy Barnes is one of the attorneys representing the plaintiffs.
"In total, 37 suits have now been filed to recover more than $100 million for 21 different local governments in Georgia that have asked for assistance, and more local governments are considering whether to bring similar suits,” he said in a press release announcing the new lawsuits.
