Twin Cities officials will review plans for countywide emergency dispatch at a special meeting Sept. 3 in Lewiston City Hall.

Lewiston City Administrator Jim Bennett, chairman of the Androscoggin County Dispatch Committee, will present the committee’s report on ways to pay for a combined dispatch service to a joint meeting of Auburn and Lewiston city councils. They’ve scheduled a second meeting on the topic for Sept. 8 in Auburn Hall.

The committee, including representatives from towns across the county, has been studying ways to provide a single emergency dispatch service for police, fire and medical emergencies since 2007. The committee released a report earlier this month but is scheduled to vote on a final recommendation on Sept. 10 in Lewiston City Hall, after elected officials have reviewed the report.

Combined, communities spend about $2.6 million per year for dispatch services. That’s expected to increase since the county is requesting $400,000 in equipment upgrades, adding another $55,000 a year to the budget.

A single dispatch center would be about $38,000 less expensive each year and would require two fewer full-time dispatch employees than the current system, according to the report.

The committee came up with three ways to share costs among the county’s towns and cities, based on property values, population or calls for service.

Rural communities with higher property values fare better if the costs are decided by the number of emergency calls. Communities with their own dispatch services, like Auburn, Lewiston, Lisbon and Livermore Falls, save more if community valuation determines the dispatch costs.