Whitcom works to address budget woes

Whitcom, the regional 911 dispatch center, is exploring a new funding model to address an expected shortfall of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Based on projections, Whitcom is expecting a budget shortfall from $394,000 to almost $606,000 next year depending on how much revenue it receives from grants or other revenue sources. Its total budget is about $3.2 million.

According to a report sent out by Whitcom Interim Director Roger Lanier, Whitcom has been running a deficit budget the past three years and has used general fund dollars and open positions to make up the difference.

To address the budget issues, Lanier has proposed splitting the cost equally among five of the partners that pay annually to use Whitcom. Those partners are Pullman, Whitman County, Washington State University, Moscow, and Asotin County. That cost, split five ways, is about $650,149.

“We’re just trying to get it exactly at parity,” Lanier said.

That means the annual payment for WSU, Pullman and Whitman County could increase by more than $200,000 over the next two years.

Currently, the Washington and Idaho partners pay at different rates. Moscow pays the highest amount at $578,000, but Lanier said Moscow gains approximately $250,000 in revenue from 911 fees and taxes, Lanier told the Daily News.

Whitcom is also trying to address its staff vacancies as eight of the 20 dispatch positions are vacant. Lanier said there are currently three potential staff members in training.

He said these vacancies are not related to the budget shortfall but are a reflection of how difficult it is to hire 911 dispatchers.

He said this problem is not unique to Whitcom. Many agencies are struggling to find people with the right skillset to be dispatchers.

“It’s hard to recruit qualified people to fill those positions,” he said.

Lanier, who took over as interim director earlier this month, said he could not speak to how there came to be a budget shortfall. Lanier, who also serves as captain for the Moscow Police Department, replaced Tara Murker as Whitcom’s director.

Anthony Kuipers can be reached at akuipers@dnews.com.