Routt County Emergency Communications took a first step toward changing how the dispatch center is funded during a joint Steamboat Springs City Council and Routt County commissioners meeting Tuesday.

The Routt County dispatch center is currently funded through a percentage of property taxes and an enhanced 911 surcharge added to every phone line in the state. 

Routt County Manager Jay Harrington presented a potential new way to fund the dispatch center to Steamboat Springs city councilors and Routt County commissioners, introducing dispatch service fees and increasing E911 fees.

E911 fees, which are mandated by the state and vary by county, directly support emergency communications throughout the state. The fees are applied to every landline and cellphone bill in the state.

“The funding model we have right now is not sustainable,” said Harrington during Tuesday’s meeting.

The Routt County Communications dispatch center is responsible for dispatching all nine agencies in the county, including the Steamboat Springs Police Department and Steamboat Springs Fire Rescue.

“Traditionally, every police department, sheriff’s department and fire department had their own communication center,” said Routt County Emergency Communications Manager Jim Cullen. “So they would have someone sitting there dispatching just for them.”

Only one of the agencies, added Cullen, the Routt County Sheriff’s Office.

Under the current funding model, the agencies dispatched by Routt County Emergency Communications don’t pay dispatch service fees, making the county responsible for funding dispatching for agencies that would typically be funded by corresponding municipalities.

Harrington noted that the Routt County dispatch center is one of four in the state that does not utilize dispatch fees for funding and is responsible for funding all municipality dispatch calls.

The purpose of a dispatch fee would be to disperse the “net cost of the 911 communication system,” said the Routt County Finance Director Dan Strnad during Tuesday’s meeting.

To take pressure off the county’s budget, Routt County Emergency Communications is proposing charging fees to responding agencies once they’re dispatched.

Routt County Emergency Communications is also proposing increasing E911 fees, which are charged monthly to every landline and cellphone in the county.

Currently, Routt County charges $2.12 to every landline and cellphone in the county per month for E911 funding, totaling $25.44 per year.

Routt County Emergency Communications is hoping to increase that fee to $4.24 per month, totaling $50.88 per year.

“Even though this adds a little bit to everybody’s phone bill, it also spreads some of the responsibility out to the large influx of tourists,” said Cullen. “So when people are in the Airbnbs, there’s a phone line there. If they’re in a hotel, there’s a phone in the room … It makes it more equitable.”

“It’s a small increase …” continued Cullen. “It’s better than increasing taxes.”

Increasing the E911 fee would need state approval and wouldn’t go into effect until Feb. 1, 2026, said Strnad during Tuesday’s meeting.

Harrington added that the highest E911 fee charged in the state is in Pitkin County, which charges $4 per month. Routt County is considering matching that fee.

Moving forward, Harrington and Routt County Emergency Communications plan to bring the matter to the Steamboat City Council and the Routt County commissioners again with more detailed information, a timeline and more detailed financial estimates.