A new 28E agreement for dispatching services was recently approved by the City of Jefferson and the Greene County Board of Supervisors.
The agreement requires the City to increase the current service fee amount from $25,000 to $35,000 at the beginning of the 2021 fiscal year on July 1st. Both entities then agreed to a $10,000 increase each of the following two fiscal years, up to $55,000. Beyond that, the amount would perpetually increase by two-percent.
A termination of the agreement was sent by the County to the City, ahead of the agreement deadline, to renegotiate the amount the City was paying. Prior to having a 28E agreement in place, the City wasn’t paying the Greene County Sheriff’s Office for dispatching services for the Jefferson Police Department. After the two parties came to an agreement, the City approved the new 28E on January 28th. City Administrator Mike Palmer thought the new agreement was fair, with payment coming from the City’s general fund.
“Nobody likes to be hit with an extra fee. But on the other hand, the County and the City through our negotiations both sides came to that general agreement that the services that we use there’s certainly worth a fee on there and the cost is one dispatcher.”
Following the City’s approval, the Greene County Supervisors also approved the new agreement on February 10th. Supervisor Chair John Muir commends everyone involved for working together to get a new 28E agreement finalized.
“From our side, we were getting an increased revenue from it, which I think we were happy with. I hope from the City’s side they recognized the services are being provided and there’s costs involved and I think they did. I think that’s how we got to the point that we had an agreement and able to put together a 28E agreement.”
Click the link below for a copy of the finalized agreement.