Subject: [NEXTEL-1] Cellphone Tax Produces Little for Cellphones

From: [email-masked]
Date: Tue, 11 May 2004 13:59:47 -0400

Cellphone Tax Produces Little for Cellphones
By EDWARD WYATT

Published: May 10, 2004

ew York State has collected $440 million since 1991 in special taxes on
cellphones. But only about $30 million of that has gone to the program
named on most cellphone bills as the purpose of the tax: enhanced 911
service, which can help police, fire and ambulance dispatchers locate a
cellphone caller in need of emergency help.

Most of the money goes far afield. Fifty cents of the $1.20-a-month tax
paid by nearly every cellphone user goes not to the 911 system but to
the state's general fund, the all-purpose budgetary pot that finances
whatever the governor and the Legislature want. Twenty-four cents a
month goes to the state police, which built and operates a statewide 911
system but has also used the money to pay for things like dry cleaning
and travel.

About 34 cents goes for "homeland security," including the budgets of
other state agencies, like Corrections and Parks and Recreation. Last
week, the Pataki administration awarded the contract for a proposed $1
billion wireless radio network that will also be paid for using the
money.

That leaves only about 12 cents of the monthly fee for the
still-developing cellular 911 system, whose advocates complain that the
state has misled its taxpayers and placed politics ahead of public
safety.

Poor planning, they say, is at the root of the problem. They point out
that even though the state collected $132 million in the last year alone
from the 911 surcharge on cellphones, it had to sell bonds to raise an
additional $100 million so that counties could afford to buy the
necessary equipment for their own enhanced wireless 911 systems. And
despite years of work, only a few counties are currently able to locate
cellphone callers who dial 911.

"The governor has tied up all the money coming in through the 911
surcharge," said Assemblyman David R. Koon of Rochester, who has been
one of the biggest advocates of buying the equipment and software to
build the enhanced 911 system for cellphones. If not for the bond money,
he said, "we couldn't get the equipment."

The Pataki administration points out that the law requires only that the
tax money go for emergency services, including 911, and says the state
police has used it that way. Also, state officials say, the proposed
wireless radio network will be closely integrated into the 911 system,
letting police, fire and other emergency departments both respond to
calls and communicate with one another.

And thanks to grants made with the $100 million in bond proceeds, nearly
every county will be able to locate cellphone callers by the end of the
year, said the secretary of state, Randy A. Daniels, whose department
oversees the grant program.

"The whole point of all of this,'' he said, "is to significantly enhance
the capacity of the state to respond to emergencies" from routine 911
calls to terrorist attacks.

In a review of the wireless 911 program issued in February, the state's
comptroller, Alan G. Hevesi, reported that significant progress had been
made in upgrading the statewide system.

The dispute over where the cellphone tax goes and what it pays for lies
in a technology that is evolving rapidly and a state government
reluctant to alter an established income stream.

The phone surcharge was approved in 1991, when wireless phones, because
of their size, were used almost exclusively in cars. Legislators
reasoned that because emergency calls from car phones would most likely
be made from highways, the state police should oversee spending to set
up a 911 call-answering system that would allow troopers to respond
quickly to accidents or reports of erratic drivers.

Changes in technology quickly outpaced the reasoning behind the system,
however. Cellphones became ever more portable; soon most cellphone calls
to 911 were coming from places other than a highway and were being
handled by local authorities rather than the state police. By 2000,
local authorities were handling two-thirds of the 911 cellphone calls
from the state's residents.

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/05/10/nyregion/10phone.html?ex=1084766400&en=f74fcfe89c5437ad&ei=5006&partner=ALTAVISTA1

------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor ---------------------~-->
Yahoo! Domains - Claim yours for only $14.70
http://us.click.yahoo.com/Z1wmxD/DREIAA/yQLSAA/61FxlB/TM
---------------------------------------------------------------------~->

-- 
    "NEXTEL-1 IT'S NOT JUST NEXTEL"
  Note The New address 
Subscribe to Nextel-1: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL-1

  "NEXTEL2 FOR iDEN SOFTWARE DEVELOPERS"
Subscribe to Nextel2: http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/NEXTEL2

  "WIRELESS FORUM HOMELAND SECURITY GROUP"
     The Complete Resource for Wireless Homeland Security.
Subscribe to WFHSG:  http://www.groups.yahoo.com/subscribe/WFHSG

Yahoo! Groups Links

<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
     http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEXTEL-1/

<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
     [email-masked]

<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
     http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/