City approves communications contract with Sheriff’s Department

     The City of Monticello recognized Monday, Jan. 2, as a holiday with New Year’s falling on a weekend. That said, the Monticello City Council met on Tuesday, Jan. 3.

   The council took action to approve the Fiscal Year 2024 contract for communication services between the city and the Jones County Sheriff’s Department. The contract amount is $28,278.36, a 5 percent increase over FY 2023 ($25,975).

   The Sheriff’s Department has handled communication (dispatch) services for Monticello since the mid-1990s. This includes police, fire, and ambulance. Since then, the city has held a contract with the county for these services.

   Over the years, annual contract amounts have increased between 3 and 10 percent. Police Chief and Ambulance Administrator Britt Smith said there’s never really been an explanation as to those increase amounts.

   Over the past three years or so, Smith, Sheriff Greg Graver and the county auditor have been working to establish a fair formula to justify the rates. That formula takes into account the city taxes already allocated through the county’s budget to Dispatch.

   “Taking into consideration the county population numbers, and the total Dispatch Center operating budget, the City of Monticello accounts for approximately $80,000 of that operating budget,” Smith noted in his information presented to the council.

   This was before a new formula was devised. The new contract rate as of 2020 for Monticello was $26,000.

   Since the discussions in 2020, Smith said there has not been any further discussion at the county level.

   Smith felt the 5 percent rate increase was fair. In addition to Dispatch services, the Sheriff’s Department has added the annual licensing fees into the contract. These licenses allow the Monticello Police Department to access a shared network with all Jones County law enforcement agencies for management of records.

   “Everything is agreeable on our end,” Smith said of the contract.