To the Editor:

The Howard County 911 Board asks your help April 2 in passing the ¼ cent sales tax proposal. For every $100 spent on merchandise here, the 911 Center will receive .25 cents. The board will use these funds to upgrade equipment that has been in use for 13 plus years.

These upgrades will run approximately $275,000 to $300,0000 for the CAD (Computer Aided Dispatch) and the GIS (Geographic Information System) which stores every call and data that goes through the 911 center. The center has dispatched 16,842 calls for the year 2023. The dispatchers enter all warrants, sex offenders, and criminal history checks for the county law enforcement agencies, along with running license checks and plates for officers and deputies and provide weather alerts in bad weather (the tornado siren is activated from the 911 Center). Two emergency dispatchers are on duty 24/7 to ensure fast response.

In recent years our equipment fund has been used to avoid asking for a tax increase. With the rising equipment costs each year, it becomes a challenge to meet this increase with an income which does not equal these expenses in

comparison. As such, we ask you, the citizens, to help us help you. We, the 911 Board members, are also taxpayers, so we understand the concerns that some of you may have. However, each of us volunteers our time to bring about decisions to better your 911 Center. It’s our priority that Howard County citizens and those who pass through receive the best and most accurate emergency service we can provide.

Therefore, we ask our communities to help us, along with the following agencies: The Howard County Commission, Howard County Fire Protection District Board of Directors, Glasgow Firemen, Howard County Sheriff’s Department, Howard County Ambulance Service, Howard County Fire District: Stations 1, 2, 3, 4, Fayette Firemen, Fayette Police Department, Howard County Emergency Management, Howard County 911 Employees, and the Armstrong Fire District.

We have a county with wonderful emergency service workers, and we need to help them do their job more efficiently. Please join us and the emergency service workers in supporting the ¼ cent sales tax.

911 Board Members: Connie Kunze, Steven Morrow, Debra Carmack, Angi Allphin, Taylor Frevert, David Schaefer, Dana Wilhoit.