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r 1 <br />DEC 2 21987 soo . 70 P,nv 442 <br />telephone bills, and some 12,000 of those telephones are located <br />in the City of Vero Beach, which makes up 25% of the total <br />billable phones in the county. Chief Gabbard thought it is <br />important to make the point that the City has only gotten the <br />$2,300 a month over the last several years and not asked for any <br />more money. He honestly believed the City has not gotten its <br />fair share of the already gathered revenue, and now they are <br />asking for a one-time upfront payment of $55,000. He believed <br />that in 9 months the City of Vero Beach will generate some <br />$55,000 in revenue from the 504 surcharge on each telephone. <br />Chief Gabbard stressed that they desperately need some new <br />equipment, and while his understanding of the law is that the <br />county is not obligated to give the City anything, just in <br />fundamental fairness, he felt the county needs to take a hard <br />look at this and come up with some equitable distribution of <br />these funds. He knew the Sheriff has spent a great deal on his <br />new communication center. A lot of that money came from this <br />account, and the City did not object to that. <br />Commissioner Eggert pointed out that they are also getting <br />fire service and all sorts of things out of the Sheriff's center. <br />Chief Gabbard stated the City can patch through calls the <br />same as the Sheriff. <br />Chairman Scurlock felt the basic issue is that when those <br />monies first became available, a decision had to be made on the <br />level of service the City wanted, and at that time they didn't <br />want to participate fully in the 911 system but preferred to have <br />separate consoles, etc., and we are willing to fund that. The <br />Chairman believed Chief Gabbard can demonstrate their need for a <br />second primary system, but with the shortfall, he felt the timing <br />is wrong. <br />Commissioner Bird brought up the possibility of funding this <br />over a 2-3 year period as he felt sure the City could come up <br />with the money for the equipment if we gave them a pledge that we <br />would reimburse them over a period of several years. <br />62 <br />