The WSJ reports that 911 service surcharges on cellphone bills aren’t actually being used to improve 911 service — despite the fact that some callers are dying when they can’t be located [$]:

“Even when money has been earmarked for modernizing 911, it often has been used for other purposes. This has been true of funds generated by special fees for upgrading 911 that dozens of states have tacked onto consumers’ monthly phone bills.

New York has diverted more of these funds than any other state. It has assessed a fee on monthly phone bills for 911 upgrades since 1991, longer than most states, and has the biggest charge, up to $1.50. But in a March 2002 report, the state comptroller found that the New York State Police in 2001 spent money intended for 911 upgrades on items such as $4.66 million for vehicle leases and purchases, $1.2 million for maintenance of radio systems, $19,187 for winter boots and more than $500 for dry cleaning.”

Substantial upgrades to the existing 911 infrastructure are required so that cell phone and VOIP calls can be located. Most cell phones are now built with GPS chips, but many 911 centers can’t handle the data.

The article has examples of New Yorkers who died — four boys in a boat, an assault victim — when they called 911 but could not be found.

This diversion of funds is egregious. If legislatures are going to represent that they are charging consumers a fee to deliver a particular service, they had better use 100% — not 90%, not even 99% — of those funds the way they were supposed to be used. We’re used to dishonesty from politicians, but in this case it’s lethal.

Technorati Tags: government waste

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 12th, 2005 at 10:50 pm by A Senior Administration Official and is filed under Brilliant, but uncategorizable, Your Tax Dollars In Action. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.