Last month a county riot control team was called to Geiger Corrections Center to deal with drunken inmates. At the command post across the street, the operations officer tried to communicate with those at the prison, but his radio wouldn’t work inside the building.

That’s just one of the potentially risky scenarios Sheriff Ozzie Knezovich describes as he works hard to sell Spokane County voters on Proposition 2, a sales tax increase that would pay for replacing the county’s outdated emergency communications system.

The tax, one-tenth of 1 percent, would generate approximately $7 million annually toward a new $41 million system. That network would include new radio towers, antennas and the mainframe computer as well as individual laptops and portable and car radios.

The county’s 30-year-old equipment frequently fails when it’s needed. Police can’t talk to fire. The county SWAT team can’t talk to the city SWAT team. The list goes on.

The new tax would also pay to upgrade the county’s 911 emergency system and restore Crime Check, a Spokane tradition designed to help residents report minor crimes to law enforcement 24 hours a day. The additional cost for Crime Check alone is estimated between $1.1 and $1.3 million annually.

The county must move quickly on this plan because the equipment will need to comply with new Federal Communications Commission standards by 2013.

Knezovich is also frequently confounded by new reports that 911 lines have jammed. Since 2004, when city budget cuts took away the traditional 24-hour Crime Check telephone number, many residents have been reporting minor crimes to 911. Knezovich doesn’t think anyone reporting a heart attack should have to hear a message that the 911 lines are full.

Since the old Crime Check number was dropped, crime reports have fallen, too, from 47,000 in 2004 to a projected 22,000 in 2007, depriving law enforcement of critical information that could help solve other cases.

Even opponents of this ballot issue, such as former county Commissioner John Roskelley, agree these new communications upgrades are needed. They disagree, however, about how to pay for them.

Roskelley calls for a collaboration among Spokane County, the city of Spokane, Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake to devise a better way to finance this project. He says an increased sales tax would hit low-income citizens hardest. He suggests examining possible combinations of real estate excise taxes, property taxes and sales taxes, as well as combing existing budgets for funds.

Roskelley raises worthwhile questions. Another centers around the wisdom of once again raising sales tax rates in Spokane County when shoppers can so easily travel to Idaho to pay lower taxes on their purchases.

Proposition 2 is not a perfect solution. But it’s reassuring that commissioners plan to appoint a committee to monitor the spending. And it’s urgent that the county begin the process of making these important upgrades.

We don’t know when the next crisis will hit. But we do know the possibilities can be vastly worse than prison inmates mixing hand sanitizer with Kool-Aid. Whether it’s a fuel depot fire, an ice storm or a school shooting, first responders will need to communicate quickly.

We can’t wait until the perfect tax strategy emerges. We need to act now and vote “yes” on Proposition 2. Once the election is over, county commissioners should refine this plan by pressing for more collaboration with the cities that will benefit.

Endorsement wrap-up: This is the last of our endorsements for the Nov. 6 general election. Others can be viewed on our blog at www.spokesmanreview.com/blogs/ opinion.