Emergency Communication Districts

When House Bill 911 was proposed in 1987 local officials and the citizens of Ector County quickly reacted to gain support for the creation of a 9-1-1 District.  Of primary concern was the subsidizing of small, rural counties if the 9-1-1 program was administered by the Council of Governments (Regional Planning Commission) if a District was not created.

As a District, all 9-1-1 services fees collected would remain in Ector County.  As a part of a regional project, all fees would be pooled from the 17 counties and disbursed as needed to fund the project on a regional basis.  Obviously a substantial portion of Ector County money would go to other counties if we were part of the regional plan.

For the most part, the idea of creating the District to keep our local money in the county works.  However the state did eventually pass legislation that requires a small portion of 9-1-1 fees to be sent to the state to be used where needed for 9-1-1 projects.  One piece of legislation created an "Equalization Surcharge" which is calculated based on current legislation.  This money is pooled and shared throughout the state for 9-1-1 implementation and has been used to fund addressing projects.  The other non-local portion of "9-1-1 fees" was the state's "Poison Control" fee. 

There are 23 other Emergency Communication Districts in Texas.  The Districts cooperate and share resources through the Texas  9-1-1 Alliance.

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