Fees in the works for Garrison PD
County determining fee for dispatching services starting in 2022
BY ALYSSA MEIER
After two years of using county dispatch services free of charge, the Garrison Police Department will have to start paying for the connection in 2022.
McLean County Sheriff JR Kerzmann told county commissioners at their Tuesday morning meeting that the county has yet to bill Garrison for dispatch services since the new department was founded in 2020.
“We have to get something written up so we can bill Garrison,” Kerzmann said. “Because they haven’t paid since they set up (police department).”
Kerzmann said county and Garrison city representatives are all aware that the charge would be coming at some point, and that he would like something to be in place at the start of 2022.
Kerzmann said he anticipated around $30,000 per year, based on rates paid by entities with similar call volumes to Garrison.
“Let’s see what others are charging based on the number of calls,” Commissioner Steve Lee said.
The charge would be applied to only calls dispatched by the Garrison Police Department, not to fire department or ambulance squad calls.
Kerzmann said the charges would cover the cost of the use of county resources that are tied up by Garrison’s police department, which dispatches its calls through the McLean County Sheriff’s Office.
Lee said he would like to see the county give a better rate to Garrison than it would for an entity outside of the county, as a courtesy to the city, but agreed that the service was a burden on the county that needed to be covered.
“They don’t have any other options. They can’t go with state radio, so their only choice is us,” Chief Deputy Richard Johnson said.
