Newton Falls Scheduled to Merge with County 911, 4th Community to Cut Dispatch
NEWTON FALLS, Ohio - By the end of next month, four communities in Trumbull County will no longer operate their own 911 center.
On Wednesday, Trumbull County Commissioners approved an agreement to merge Newton Falls dispatch with the county 911.
The transition will take effect Friday and marks the 4th community this year to consolidate with the county to save money. So far, McDonald and Liberty have already merged. Hubbard is scheduled to join next month.
"Budgets are tight, funding from the state has been cut across the board," said Newton Falls Police Chief John Kuivila. "There is really no other options other than to eliminate dispatch and move forward with the consolidation."
By merging with the county dispatch, communities are likely to save about $200,000 each year, meaning the service will cost communities only about 15% of what they were paying.
Officials say although more 911 calls will be coming to one center, there are advantages to safety.
"Inherently a one person dispatch system gets overwhelmed very easily," said Trumbull County 911 Director Ernie Cook. "We actually have eight seats where we are at and somebody is going to answer that phone."
To accommodate the change, Trumbull County 911 has hired five additional full-time dispatchers.
In addition the Newton Falls non-emergency line is now answered by an automated system, helping reduce the number of calls dispatchers field.
