Spokane promised share of 911 dispatch funds if negotiations fail with regional dispatcher

A once-contentious bill to claw back Spokane’s share of taxes funding the regional 911 dispatch service was signed by Governor Bob Ferguson Thursday – and after some modifications, all sides appear pleased by the outcome.

“We are very pleased with the amended bill language,” said Cody Rohrbach, Fire District 3 chief and chair of the regional dispatcher’s board.

Every police and fire jurisdiction in Spokane County, except for the Spokane Police Department, is a member of Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC. After years of negotiations to bring the city police department into the fold, stalled over disputes about fees and power on the SREC board, the proposal collapsed in January as the SREC board voted instead to kick the city fire department out of the partnership.

This left the city scrambling to stand up its own 911 dispatch service and find the funds to do so. While the SREC board has since somewhat walked back its January decision, and both parties are expected to soon enter mediation to talk through possibly repairing the partnership, the bill signed Thursday does guarantee some funding if the city goes it alone.

Days before negotiations collapsed in January, Spokane’s state Reps. Timm Ormsby and Natasha Hill introduced a bill that would claw back funds from the regional dispatcher, though the rest of the SREC coalition initially accused lawmakers of trying to take more than the city was owed.

The regional dispatcher is funded through a sales tax, an excise tax on phone bills, and a user fee each jurisdiction must pay on top of the taxes proportional to their demand on the system. The sales tax is apportioned by law and will return to the city upon its full exit from the SREC system, according to city officials.

That left a brewing fight over the roughly $5 million of excise tax dollars generated per year in the county. About 55% of the 911 calls in Spokane County last year came from within Spokane city limits, and city leadership and their allies in the legislature initially argued the city should receive roughly that large a slice of the pie. When it was first introduced, HB 1258, which was narrowly tailored and only applies to Spokane and SREC, gave the city more than half of the excise taxes.

But the rest of SREC’s leadership believes that the city is only owed the tax dollars generated within its own borders, which they estimate at closer to 42% based on the city’s population, implicitly arguing the city should not receive funding to compensate for its higher per-capita need, including due to the disproportionate share of people commuting into the city for work.

The bill was amended, however, in such a way as to leave the final apportionment undetermined. The city and the rest of the SREC coalition can either come to an agreement or fight it out in Spokane County Superior Court. If the city goes it alone, payments to the city begin in 2026.

“I am grateful to the Washington Legislature and Governor Bob Ferguson for passing House Bill 1258 and signing it into law,” Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown wrote in a statement. “This bill ensures equitable distribution of local 911 excise tax funding for emergency communications, which is essential in building a fair, effective, and reliable system should the City of Spokane need to establish its own.”