We Have Met the Neighboring 911 System, and They Could Be Ours, Too (via a Merger)

Voters in Perry County will decide next week on whether or not to merge the county's 911 emergency system with neighboring St. Francois County's system. More precisely, voters are voting on a ballot proposition to raise the county's sales tax to both fund 911 system improvements and keep the service local, i.e., no merger. Merging with St. Francois County's 911 system-which is significantly more technologically advanced than Perry's-won't require a tax increase at all.

I discussed this issue in depth in op-eds in the Southeast Missourian and the Perry County Republic-Monitor. The county commissioners in Perry County approved a merger with St. Francois County. Opponents were able to propose the alternative option-a new tax and local control. I find the arguments against the merger to be perplexing. The arguments against the merger (and, yes, I have spoken to people in the county about it) tend to be about losing local knowledge in the current system and losing the county jobs.

You can imagine how I feel about the latter point. Government is not a jobs program. Resisting change in order to keep people on the public payroll is absurd. As this article makes clear, some of people leading the opposition to the merger work for Perry County 911. They are opposed to this merger and in favor of higher taxes specifically to save their own jobs. That may be understandable from their point of view, but only from their personal point of view. While they might be offered a position with St. Francois, nothing is guaranteed in life except death and taxes (appropriately enough). Rejecting a change just to preserve certain people on the public payroll is a terrible argument.

The local knowledge argument is also strange. Believe it or not, advanced GPS systems are better at emergency location and coordination than someone's "local" knowledge. Can you only hire people in the future who can demonstrate they have lived in Perry County their entire lives and have sufficient "local" knowledge?

911 system merging is a great opportunity to use advanced technology to improve public services and lower costs throughout Missouri. There are many examples of such mergers around the state. I hope they take advantage of it in Perry County.