Jackson County asks voters to double its 911 fee on every phone line to replace first responders’ radios

JACKSON, Mich. — Jackson County voters will decide Nov. 3 whether to double the monthly 911 charge on every landline, cellphone and internet phone line in the county, with part of the money going to new radios for police officers and firefighters.

The proposal would replace the county’s current authority to charge up to $1.50 a month per line with authority to charge up to $3, beginning July 1, 2027, according to the ballot language. The money could be used only for 911 call answering and dispatch, including buildings, equipment, maintenance and operations.

For a household with three phone lines, the full charge would rise from $4.50 a month to $9, or from $54 a year to $108.

The ballot language says part of the added money would buy new portable radios for every police and fire responder dispatched through the county’s 911 center, replacing radios it describes as 10 years old. The county would replace 641 radios, WILX reported.

The county has collected about $5.5 million over 10 years at the current rate, Commission Chair Steve Shotwell told WILX, and expects the added $1.50 to raise about $5.5 million more over the next decade.

Shotwell acknowledged that some voters may not want to pay more each month. If the proposal fails, he told the station, the county would have to find the money by cutting back other services, or buy off-brand or rebuilt equipment.

Commissioners put the question on the ballot 5-3 at a special meeting Aug. 10, WKHM reported. Shotwell, Ray Snell, Margie Walz, Earl Poleski and Tony Bair voted yes. Corey Kennedy, Darius Williams and Philip Duckham voted no, and John Willis was absent. Williams said he was concerned about a lack of alternatives if the measure fails, according to the station.

The request came from local governments. A work group formed by the Jackson County Supervisors Association recommended the ballot proposal, and the county’s fire chiefs and township and village police associations backed it, according to a bulletin posted by Napoleon Township. Eleven townships adopted resolutions of support.

The bulletin says more than nine in 10 of the 800-megahertz radios county first responders carry today were purchased in 2017. Vendors normally stop selling a model at about 10 years, it says, though repair parts remain available for a time.

Sources:
Blackman Charter Township, Notice of Election, Nov. 3, 2026 (text of the Jackson County Central Dispatch Proposition), https://blackmantwp.com/wp-content/uploads/Notice-of-Election-November-2026.pdf
WKHM, “Jackson County Commissioners Submit November Ballot Measure to Allow Charge Increase on Phone Users,” Aug. 10, 2026, https://www.wkhm.com/2026/08/10/jackson-county-commissioners-submit-november-ballot-measure-to-allow-charge-increase-on-phone-users/
WILX, “Proposed phone fee increase would fund Jackson County radio upgrades,” Oct. 2, 2026, https://www.wilx.com/2026/10/02/proposed-phone-fee-increase-would-fund-jackson-county-radio-upgrades/
Napoleon Township, “911 Surcharge Bulletin”, https://www.napoleontownship.us/public_safety/911_surcharge_bulletin.php
Photo: Notorious4life, “Blackman Charter Township, Michigan offices,” June 30, 2021, Wikimedia Commons, CC0 1.0 (https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/), cropped and color-corrected, https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Blackman_Charter_Township,_Michigan_offices.jpg

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