On March 27, 2015

Decision on closing call centers put off ‘til September

Rutland station’s future to be determined

By Erin Mansfield, VTDigger.org

The House Appropriations Committee approved a stopgap measure Monday that puts off a decision on closing selected state police call centers until mid-September.

The plan uses $425,000 in funding from the state’s 2 percent universal service fee to fund the four state-operated public safety answering points, or PSAPs, from July 1 to Sept. 15.

The budget bill instructs Public Safety Commissioner Keith Flynn to meet with local first responders to discuss how emergency dispatch and E-911 call-taking should be set up and funded in their communities, and whether those duties should be separated.

The two responsibilities are now performed by the same people at the state police PSAPs in Derby, Williston, Rutland Town and Rockingham. There are four other quasi-private PSAPs performing those functions in Shelburne, Hyde Park, St. Albans and Hartford.

The move comes after political outcry following a proposal to save $1.7 million by consolidating the Derby and Rutland Town PSAPs into facilities in Williston and Rockingham, respectively.

Rep. Kitty Toll, D-Danville, said she was able to find one fiscal quarter’s worth of funding from the universal service fee to buy the Rutland and Derby areas more time to absorb the consolidation. Rep. Mitzi Johnson, D-South Hero, chair of the committee, said the small sum of money will help voices come to the table to find a “community-based solution.” That solution will likely require local funding, such as a county tax or per-call fee.

Do you want to submit feedback to the editor?

Send Us An Email!

Related Posts

Two members, including chair, resign from the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont

June 25, 2025
By Corey McDonald/VTDigger Two members of the Commission on the Future of Public Education in Vermont, including the commission’s chair, announced last week they would be resigning, saying they no longer believed their efforts would make any impact. Meagan Roy, the chair of the commission, and Nicole Mace, the former representative of the Vermont School Boards…

Vt plastic bag use dropped 91% following ban, researchers find

June 25, 2025
In the midst of 2020 Covid measures, another change took place in Vermont: A law went into effect banning businesses from offering plastic bags to customers, with paper bags only available for a fee. A 2023 analysis of a survey of hundreds of Vermonters found the law appeared to have worked. Plastic bag use in…

A Roadmap

June 25, 2025
The Vermont Legislature adjourned Monday evening, June 16, following the passage of H.454, the education reform plan. I call it a roadmap as the legislation lays out a list of changes that will take place over the next few years. And as various studies and reports come back in, there will also likely be adjustments,…

Vermont to get over $21 million in nationwide settlement with Purdue Pharma and the Sacklers

June 25, 2025
Attorney General Charity Clark announced June 16 that all 55 attorneys general, representing all eligible states and U.S. territories, have agreed to sign on to a $7.4 billion settlement with Purdue Pharma and its owners, the Sackler family. This settlement was reached after the previous settlement was rejected by the U.S. Supreme Court. It resolves…