Commissioners Move Closer to Funding VIPER

As of Tuesday, February 21, 2012

The Moore County Board of Commissioners appeared to move a step closer Tuesday to providing all of the funding to implement VIPER countywide.

Southern Pines Town Manager Reagan Parsons asked the board its comfort level because he is preparing the town's 2012-2013 budget and needs an answer.

"There is interest to pick up the cost," Commissioner Tim Lea said, "but we have to figure out how before we vote."

Parsons was satisfied with the response.

"The commissioners appear committed to the concept of funding the implementation of VIPER for everyone," he said. "Therefore, I will not need to set aside additional funds in the budget to ensure the town's ability to utilize the system."

Commissioner Nick Picerno said one funding option would be to lower the county ALS tax rate from 2 cents per $100 of assessed value to 1.25 cents while increasing the county property tax rate from 46.5 cents per $100 of assessed value to 47.25 cents. The change would be set for three years and raise $2.7 million, then the tax rate would revert back to their initial levels.

"And the net effect on the taxpayer would be zero," Picerno said. "To me, this is a public safety issue and we should be using public safety funding wherever possible."

VIPER has been chosen by the county to meet an unfunded mandate handed down by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC). The mandate, which calls for a switch from wide band to narrow band for all emergency communication systems in the United States, was enacted in December 2004 and must be operational by Jan. 1, 2013.

Earlier this month, emergency responders in Moore County took the county commissioners to task for agreeing last month to approach municipalities to share a portion of the $5 million bill to implement VIPER, saying the decision “came as a total surprise to the majority” of them.

Southern Pines Fire Chief Hampton Williams then asked them to "fund 100 percent of this initiative."

On Tuesday, several speakers rehashed the VIPER program for almost two hours before Williams got up and moved to the lectern.

"I'm amazed and surprised that a simple request for funding turned into beating a dead horse. We don't have time to back up at this point," he said. "We need this thing implemented. We need time to train. Let's get this thing up and running."

VIPER is managed by the State Highway Patrol for all responders across the state. The FCC issued the changeover mandate because of recent increases in emergency communications channels and the need to keep the airways as open as possible because of growth in population and use of emergency communications equipment.

Almost every fire, rescue, ambulance and law enforcement agency in Moore County will use the VIPER system.

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mcguy1 3 months ago

the ems services provided by the county are funded by the tax payers(which most everyone knows), but not every one knows that even though your ride to the er has been paid for but the county turns around and bills your insurance company for the ride also. that money goes into an account and sits there. so the commissioners could use that public safety money to fund this public safety issue being they are getting paid twice for something that has already been paid for.

Arestorer 3 months ago

Have they even figured out whether this system will work sufficiently,county-wide..?? Ive read post that suggest, the system is not..

fish 3 months ago

Why not take 1 million to upgrade the county system that is controlled be each department. Not not the better option will to be raise taxes to fund a third of six million to have the state patrol run the county system that is not working in other counties. VIPER is managed by the State Highway Patrol for all responders across the state, this is not true. They are counties that are staying away from this high cost system that the state patrol officers are complaining that it is not working.

Bflat 3 months ago

What other system uses narrow band and would meet the FCC requirement? If VIPER doesn't work that well, what does work?

mooremedic 3 months ago

I'm not going to make a stand on Viper or the funding for it, but it really shouldn't be trashed publicly on the internet if you don't know the system. Viper is a good system that works well in this area. The state is adding towers and infrastructure to the system and unlike any other system will continue to improve without the county having to continually spend money on it.

The comment made above by MCGuy isn't exactly correct either, yes the system initially was funded by the ALS tax, that the taxpayers of Moore County voted in a referendum to approve up to 5 cents on the hundred dollars, earmarked for ALS services only. Several years ago though EMS began billing insurance companies and Medicare to supplement the tax monies, this allowed the tax rate to be lowered and the money goes toward the EMS budget and is not just "sitting there". If you are a Moore County resident you still will not be billed for EMS service, and you will receive paramedic level service regardless of being insured or paying any taxes.

deidretg 3 months ago

There seems to be a new direct line of communication between the interested parties (local town managers, fire, police & rescue chiefs) in this issue and the County Commissioners. As the commissioners take a more active 'management' role in this county, things should get considerably better. I think there is finally light at the end of the dark tunnel that dug it's way into our neighborhood from South Carolina back in 2006.

skylinefirepest 3 months ago

Mooremedic...I have said before that I'm not really up on electronics so this is my opinion only. I have heard from several sources that the VIPER system is not that great, including SHP. I was on a wreck several months ago in Mackeyland that the trooper had to use his cellphone because he couldn't get out on his portable. The system does seem to be unGodly expensive given that the only changes we needed were the narrow banding of the radios.

mcguy1 3 months ago

even though it is not the topic of this artical it still bugs me. 20 some years ago when the EMS services was proposed to the county it was probably said that the tax money would fund the service for years to come. now the county has figured away to make money twice off the same service. it should have been thought about back then to just leave the tax rate at 5 cent instead of billing insurance companies. now some folks may be dropped or their rates go up because of being continously billed by moore county ems for more than likely a higher bill than what should be billed. this county is money and control hungry and its going to end up biting them in the long run just like it has with the USA. as far as im concered the country (yes country not county) is headed to h on s creek in a hand basket with a hole in it.

mooremedic 3 months ago

Well it would definitely be easier to keep it a tax based system without having to worry about billing, but in reality you just can't do it with a 5 cent cap and with the pressure to lower taxes in this tumultuous place in our economy. In reality there aren't that many people that are transported repeatedly that have insurance, and I doubt that ambulance transports are making people get dropped from their insurance. This is an Emergency Ambulance system that you use for emergency calls only, not to go to the Dr. or to return home from the hospital. Rates go up because of the uninsured people out there that we, as insured residents, have to pay for. Also you have to remember that in a system that is tax based only and not user funded you, as the taxpayer, are paying for services that non taxpaying residents and visitors are using for free. It's not fiscally responsible to leave the millions of dollars out there that insurance and Medicare/Medicaid pay as a part of your benefits for Ambulance transport to remain a tax based only system. Also it doesn't matter what you bill the insurance companies or Medicare for there is a set amount of money that is paid for each level of service for all ambulance providers in the USA....and the great thing that occurs in Moore County that isn't true of alot of other places is that they accept whatever amount insurance pays and don't bill the remaining amount to the resident, this is true if you don't have insurance either, regardless if you pay any taxes or not, as long as you're a resident of Moore County!