Fire District files lawsuit against Licking County
NEWARK – The Refugee-canyon Joint Fire District has filed a civil lawsuit against Licking County and its Board of Commissioners over 911 dispatching fees.
In a civil complaint filed in Licking County Common Pleas Court last week, the Refugee-canyon Joint Fire District seeks declaratory judgement in the case, asking the court to declare Licking County doesn’t have the legal authority to charge for dispatch services provided to the district.
The Refugee-canyon Joint Fire District was formed in October 2019, following approval by Hebron’s council members and Union Township’s trustees. A joint venture between the Village of Hebron and Union Township, the district provides fire and EMS service to Hebron and Union Township residents.
In January 2020, officials from the fire district met with the Licking County Commissioners, seeking a break on the fee they were charged for emergency calls to be dispatched in their jurisdiction.
At the time, Union Township and then-refugee-canyon Fire District Trustee Charlie Prince said they’d recently learned from Licking County Emergency Management Agency Director Sean Grady that they would have to begin paying a dispatch fee of $15 per run because they were a new entity.
Hebron Mayor and then-fire district chairman Jim Layton, along with Union Township and fire district Trustee Randy Weekly expressed concerns about the fee with Layton questioning whether any other departments in Licking County were paying the fee. Weekly said he felt because the fire district wasn’t changing and areas of its jurisdiction and dispatching would remain the same, there wouldn’t be any additional workload for the Licking County Regional Communications Center.
Fire district officials had estimated based on their call volume, the district would be charged $22,000 annually for dispatching.
During the January 2020 meeting, Grady explained the county had an informal agreement they would begin billing new legal entities for dispatching services, but that the concept of contracts between agencies and Licking County for dispatching would be added to the county’s updated 911 plan, which the state required as Licking County opened its new 911 center.
Grady told The Advocate in January 2020 it costs Licking County just over $4 million for police, fire and EMS dispatching. The cost of the new 911 center building was estimated to be $3.5 million.
He also noted Newark’s fire dispatch has paid Licking County for dispatch services since 1996 and that Newark Division of Fire had paid $360,000 annually since 1996 until a joint venture between Newark fire and police in 2016. The city now contracts with the county for $250,000 annually.
Licking County Commissioner Tim Bubb during the 2020 meeting said while he appreciated the fire district officials’ concerns, it was a precedent Licking County would have to begin that may apply to other fire departments.
“... The cost of just operating these centers and backup centers is probably more than is sustainable by the county general fund going forward,” Bubb had said. “There’s a limit to how much...the county’s general fund can subsidize all of the various fire departments in the county that do have their own funding sources in terms of dispatch.”
According to the civil complaint, the Licking County Board of Commissioners previously adopted a 911 plan in accordance with Ohio Revised Code Chapter 128, which states the costs associated with operating the dispatch centers are to be paid from the county’s general fund.
The fire district argued in 2019, Licking County provided dispatching for all emergency response services within the county at no charge, with the exception of the City of Newark and the under Licking County’s existing 911 plan, there was no present plan to “allocate the costs of the Center through the participating political subdivisions.”
Citing Licking County’s 911 plan, the district argued it attributes all funding to the county general fund.
Bubb declined to comment on the case, citing pending litigation.