Each month telephone owners pay a fee of at least $1 that is designed to support the state’s E-911 service, a total of roughly $15 million per year.
Who doesn’t want a well-funded and -functioning 911 service? And according to Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s office, Rhode Island’s response time is faster than the national standards, with more than 95 percent of calls answered in 10 seconds or less.
But there is a catch. The state has been diverting what it deemed excess cash to the general fund, a practice the governor’s office says was established by General Assembly action in 2000. In fiscal 2017, that amounted to approximately $11.6 million, according to the Providence Journal.
The state says that it is on the cusp of investing in a system upgrade, as well as being in the midst of adding personnel. It is difficult to imagine those initiatives will cost all of that $11.6 million overage.
It’s nice that the Raimondo administration has been efficient enough to use less than the maximum collected. In that case, isn’t it time to reduce the fee and let taxpayers keep a little more of their hard-earned cash?