PORTLAND (AP) – County taxes may be used to pay for regional 911 dispatch centers, the Supreme Judicial Court ruled Tuesday.

The court’s unanimous opinion was a victory for Penobscot County, which appealed a lower court’s judgment that funding must come through fee-for-service agreements with participating municipalities.

The case was brought by the city of Bangor, which has its own dispatch center and chose not to participate in the regional 911 system.

At issue was the wording of the 1996 state law governing the establishment and management of communications centers by counties.

The justices agreed that the legal language was ambiguous but interpreted it to mean that counties can use the county tax to provide a baseline communication service and then offer additional services to municipalities that elect to pay for them.

Penobscot County began its enhanced 911 service in 1999, when all telephone calls from participating municipalities were directed to a county dispatch center.

The system was funded through fee-for-service agreements until 2001, when county tax revenues became the funding source.

All of the county’s towns and cities except Bangor and Lincoln joined the regional dispatch center. Bangor was the lone plaintiff in the lawsuit, but Lincoln filed a brief on Bangor’s behalf.

York and Cumberland counties filed briefs in support of Penobscot County. A half-dozen counties fund their dispatch centers at least partially through the county tax.

Bangor’s share of the Penobscot County center’s funding amounts to roughly $70,000 a year, according to John Hamer, assistant city solicitor, who suggested that city officials may reconsider their decision not to participate.

Hamer said the legal action was not acrimonious, and that Bangor acted in conjunction with the county in seeking a decision about how the law should be interpreted.

AP-ES-03-08-05 1043EST

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