The Sandy Springs City Council has approved resolutions recognizing a state authority that on Jan. 1 will begin collecting 911 service fees for post-paid land line, wireless and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) telephone services, and for prepaid wireless services.
The council acted in response to House Bill 751, passed by the General Assembly this spring to establish a Georgia Emergency Communications Authority. Service suppliers will remit a monthly 911 fee of $1.50 per connected device to the Georgia Department of Revenue through a contract with GECA, according to a letter from GECA to the Georgia Municipal Association.
The authority will disburse the proceeds to local jurisdictions – in Sandy Springs, the ChatComm 911 emergency call center serving Sandy Springs, Johns Creek, Dunwoody and Brookhaven.
Local resolutions acknowledging the arrangement, and that money received from the state will go into a restricted, Emergency Telephone System Fund, must be passed and submitted to the Department of Revenue by Nov. 1, GECA said.
According to a Sandy Springs staff memo to the council, the Legislature took action because currently, “the collection of 9-1-1 fees and surcharges is a mixed bag with little consistency in the amounts, and more importantly, where those fees are remitted. Despite the intended purpose, these 9-1-1 fees are often being routed to unrelated and possibly non-public safety services.”
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