Taxpayers in the Capital Region are paying twice for 911 emergency phone service, said Gord Logan, the chair of the board of Capital Region Emergency Service Telecommunications (CREST).

CREST handles the 911 calls in the Capital Region for all police, fire, ambulance and emergency services.

Logan isnB次元官网网址檛 happy that telephone companies are charging and keeping a levy for every 911 call made from a cellphone. According to Logan, that levy is charged by cellphone service providers (such as Telus, Bell, Rogers and others), but unlike landline calls, the telecommunications companies are keeping the levy charged on cellphone calls, rather than passing the funds on to 911 call centres like CREST.

The charge is also higher for cellphone calls.

B次元官网网址淭hey charge about $1.25 for every 911 cell phone call, and I would say that their cost related to taking that call is a tiny fraction of that amount,B次元官网网址� Logan said.

In comparison, landline levies are passed along by the telephone companies to 911 call centres to offset the cost of providing that emergency service. When someone with a landline makes a 911 call, the phone company charges a 66-cent levy to the customer, Logan said. Phone companies turn over about 59 cents of that levy to CREST, which in turn uses those funds to offset the charges they pass on to municipalities and others for the call centre.

B次元官网网址淭he benefit goes not to CREST, but to the municipalities, the RCMP, B.C. Ambulance and others who have to pay for the 911 call centre,B次元官网网址� said Logan.

The arrangements and payments of levies for landlines are approved by the CRTC but those arrangements do not apply to wireless devices, said Shawn Hall, a Telus spokesperson. B次元官网网址淎nd thereB次元官网网址檚 very good reasons for that situation. We have our back end costs to cover for wireless services, including the cost of training our own operators to handle 911 calls in areas where there are no public service answering points.B次元官网网址�

Hall characterizes CRESTB次元官网网址檚 position as B次元官网网址渂oth sensational and wrong.B次元官网网址�

Logan maintains that if the emergency call centres donB次元官网网址檛 get the benefit of the 911 levies collected for the use of wireless devices, the money to pay for their service has to come from the general tax base. B次元官网网址淭hose taxpayers, and particularly the actual users of 911B次元官网网址� which could be any one of us B次元官网网址� end up paying twice.B次元官网网址�

Logan maintains that since more than 70 per cent of phone services are now wireless, an estimated $2 million annually is collected from Capital Region cellphone users and kept by cellphone companies for services they donB次元官网网址檛 provide.

Logan said that the situation could be resolved in one of two ways.

The first would be for the telephone companies to voluntarily pass along all or part of the 911 levies to municipal 911 call centres. It shouldnB次元官网网址檛 matter if the charges are direct line billing items by cell companies or if they build the levies into a wireless package, said Logan. He says that CREST has had discussions with the telephone companies in an attempt to convince them to voluntarily change their practices. B次元官网网址淭heyB次元官网网址檝e resisted,B次元官网网址� Logan said. B次元官网网址淚tB次元官网网址檚 just a cash grab on their part.B次元官网网址�

Hall disagrees. B次元官网网址淲e have real costs associated with the provision of 911 services,B次元官网网址� he said. B次元官网网址淔irst of all, most of our customers donB次元官网网址檛 actually pay a separate levy for 911 calls any longer, as those fees have been rolled into single payment systems like our B次元官网网址榗lear and simpleB次元官网网址� service.B次元官网网址� Hall said that while landline levies and the distribution of those funds are approved by the CRTC, wireless charges are not under CRTC jurisdiction.

Hall acknowledges that some portion of the all-inclusive plans may cover the cost of 911 service, but stated emphatically that any charges levied by wireless providers covered the real costs of those companies.

B次元官网网址淚 canB次元官网网址檛 speak for all the cell companies, but I know that there are significant costs to operating the system,B次元官网网址� he said.

Hall also pointed out that the distribution of levies that are, or could be, charged is difficult when those calls are made from wireless devices.

B次元官网网址淲e wouldnB次元官网网址檛 be adverse to a levy being collected on behalf of a provincial system,B次元官网网址� said Hall. B次元官网网址淭hose funds could be allocated on a per capita basis to those municipalities with (911) public service answering points operated by those municipalities.B次元官网网址�

Hall said that otherwise there isnB次元官网网址檛 a way for the wireless providers to know where many of their customers are living or from where they are making the call. B次元官网网址淧aying out those fees on a municipal level just isnB次元官网网址檛 practical,B次元官网网址� he said.

A provincially mandated system of levies and payments to 911 service providers is the second option available to Logan and CREST.

B次元官网网址淲eB次元官网网址檝e had discussions with past attorneys general but weB次元官网网址檝e gotten nowhere,B次元官网网址� said Logan.

Responding to this issue in a written statement, the Minister of Justice, Shirley Bond, said: B次元官网网址淚n B.C., local governments are responsible for the provision of 911 emergency services. That said, our government continues to review a number of models and the experiences seen in other provinces.B次元官网网址�

Bond said that, to date, tax policy restrictions and industry billing practices have meant that there doesnB次元官网网址檛 appear to be an effective way to change the current model that would work for everyone involved. B次元官网网址淔or our government to consider any changes, we would need to ensure public safety would be improved, costs would be contained and that we could meet public expectations with regard to both 911 service and funding,B次元官网网址� she said.

ItB次元官网网址檚 a review that is long overdue, according to Gord Hoth, CREST general manager. B次元官网网址淭he UBCM (Union of B.C. Municipalities) passed unanimous resolutions in 2004 and 2009 on this issue, so the government has had eight years to move on this file,B次元官网网址� said Hoth. B次元官网网址淪urely it could have been addressed by now. TheyB次元官网网址檙e allowing this cash grab (by cellphone companies) and itB次元官网网址檚 not right.B次元官网网址�

CREST was established in 1998 and provides emergency communications for 40 emergency response agencies. It is a not-for-profit agency governed by the Emergency Communications Corporations Act. More information on CREST can be found at crest.ca.