By Rupert Howell
A “work session” followed Monday’s Panola County supervisors meeting where comments were aired concerning the E-911 commission’s funding rates and sources and the adoption of a new inter-local agreement that expands the commission from five voting members to 11.

The meeting more concerned the City of Sardis who pays a substantial portion of the funds, compared to other municipalities, totaling $45,000 annually or nine percent of the dispatch budget.

The E-911 dispatches for all Panola County and its municipalities with the exception of the City of Batesville which provides its own emergency dispatch.

The City of Sardis got out of the emergency dispatching business when the commission was created, and although costs were cut from over $100,000 annually to the current rate, that town’s board of mayor and aldermen think the rate of other municipalities is much less.

The town of Como pays $24,000 annually and Crenshaw pays $6,000.

Sardis Mayor Billy Russell explained that he was not familiar with the issues of the E-911 board as the Sardis vice-mayor and city clerk are the town’s representatives on the E-911 board. Russell said he was just trying to express his board’s  concerns stating, “They feel like we are paying more than our fair share.

The municipalities of Courtland and Pope do not have law enforcement dispatch as they are either under Panola County Sheriff Department jurisdiction or have part-time law enforcement who are also employed with the sheriff’s department.

Approximately 49.5 percent or $243,000 of the commission’s budget comes from the Sheriff Department’s budget and approximately $300,000 comes through E-911 fees.

District Five Supervisor Cole Flint who serves on the current commission and has been actively involved in it’s evolution said he was against lowering the rate municipalities were currently paying.

Flint reminded Mayor Russell that the service was, “light years ahead from where they were to where they are now.”

“There is no way we can keep moving forward with cutting anybody (any municipality’s rate),” Flint said.

Emergency Management Director Daniel Cole recollected that when the Sardis dispatch changed to county-wide, “Sardis’ large concern was about (current) employees. Their full and part-time employees got preferential treatment.”

“My main purpose is to give you information coming from the board,” Russell said stating that he didn’t know he would be speaking at Monday’s meeting.

Flint asked Russell to inform his board and others interested to attend the monthly meeting of the E-911 board held at 4:30 p.m. on the fourth Thursday of each month at the Emergency Management Building (old National Guard building) in Sardis.