Stoddard County, Missouri - County 911 Sales Tax Collection will begin October 1, 2016.  The 3/16th of a percent sales tax to fund the Stoddard County 911 Services will begin while the fee levied on land-line telephones will be discontinued.

Carol Moreland, County 911 Administrator, has contacted all telephone companies to notify them that the fee on landlines was to stop on September 30th.

Stoddard County voters approved the sales tax by a 3,270 - 1,044 vote in April of 2016.

Due to a steep decline in landline usage, it was necessary to ask the public to change the sales tax.  More than 80 percent of 911 calls were coming from cell phones users.  There were 1,387 calls made to 911 in the month of August of those calls, 1,189 were made with cell phones with 857 for EMS services, 373 were for law enforcement and 15 were to report fires. Several efforts through both elections and the legislature were made to levy a fee on cell phone usage, but all have failed.

Moreland said that sales tax receipts will be directly deposited into the 911 Services account.

Based on the 2015 sales tax receipts to the county, it is hoped that more than $500,000 would be collected.  The landline tax was generating only about $140,000 per year so the additional revenue would now allow for improvements in technology and to update necessary equipment for County 911 services.

One of the largest upgrades will hopefully come in 2017, a $200,000 system that will allow emergency dispatchers to pinpoint cell-phone callers.

SDR Mapping Company is already half way through the county collecting address points.  By November they will receive wireless locations.

A new app is now implemented for Emergency Responders called Active 911.  This will assist them in expedient emergency response.

"Thank you for saving 911," commented Carol Moreland on behalf of the Stoddard County 911 Services.