Mississippi Imposes Surcharge on 911 Calls via Internet-Based Phones

Government Technology Magazine reports that for years, counties in Mississippi have been collecting fees for 911 calls made from landline phones to help pay for emergency services. 911 callers had to pay for landline calls (up to $1 for residential and $2 for commercial). However, residents who called 911 though an Internet-based phone service simply avoided the fee, the magazine reported.

But a number of counties are enacting legislation to put an end to the loophole, the magazine adds. The Hinds County Board of Supervisors, for example, recently passed an amendment to impose a $1 monthly fee on Internet-based phone service.

The amendment

"The amendment was passed because there was no amount of money being retrieved from people with Internet-based phones," board President Robert Graham told Government Executive.

The service charge complies with the state's new emergency telecommunications law, which imposes a $1 tax on VoIP and prepaid cell phones to help fund 911 services.

In Hinds County, officials can't yet say how much revenue the new fee will generate, although Graham told the magazine the county has about 18 different companies that provide Internet-based phone service. The county, he added, receives about $30,000 a month from the 911 fees collected from landline calls.

The past year

For the past year, Hinds County officials have been working to upgrade its 911 system with technology – such as GPS tracking tools for emergency responders to pinpoint callers who dial the emergency number from a cell phone, according to the magazine.

Jimmie Lewis, the county's Emergency Operations Center director, told the magazine that the extra money will come in handy. With fees collected from the landline calls, he said, the county has been able to assist emergency responders with radio communications and upgrade some of the public safety answering points, the centers that take and answer 911 calls, the magazine reported.

The new VoIP 911 fee

Even with the new VoIP 911 fee, Graham said, the county still has another 911 loophole: people using out-of-state cell phone service, including visitors or students attending school with a cell phone plan not subject to in-state fees, according to the magazine.