House, Senate endorse regional emergency dispatch bills

The House gave initial approval in late July to legislation approved earlier in the year by the Senate that would give cities and towns a tool for establishing regional emergency dispatch districts.

The model law would provide another way to form districts that are now created mainly through inter-municipal agreements and special acts.

For the planning phase, the House bill (H. 4299) would authorize cities and towns considering a regional approach to emergency dispatch for police, fire and emergency medical services to form a special planning committee. The committee would be charged with assessing the feasibility of establishing a district, proposing a structure of governance and administration, developing a plan for construction or otherwise obtaining a site for district operations, and drafting a proposed district agreement for adoption by member cities and towns.

While the bill would allow considerable flexibility in the structure of the district, there are a number of key features that would be set by law, such as the establishment of a regional district board, comprising a number of members (with a selection process and terms of office as provided in the agreement), to oversee the operation of the district. The district would be authorized to prepare and adopt an annual operating budget, employ an executive director and employees, purchase and lease land and buildings, incur debt, and generally assume the array of powers of a special municipal district.

Each district would be required to establish a “finance advisory committee” to the district board that would be charged with approval of the annual operating budget and review and approval of any proposal to incur long-term debt and issues bonds and notes. The finance committee would generally consist of the chief executive, or finance or administrative officer of each member municipality.

The operating budget approved by the district board would be apportioned as assessments to the member municipalities based on the regional agreement no later than Feb. 1. The assessments would be subject to appropriation locally, but assessors would be required to raise separately any shortfall from the assessed amount in the tax levy for that year.

The bill would also require quarterly and annual financial statements and regular audits that would be distributed to the member municipalities.

With the Legislature meeting only in informal sessions through the end of the year, it’s unclear if the bill will reach the governor’s desk before a new formal legislative session begins next January.