How did the rollout of a 911 fee in Madison County fall apart so quickly?
By Kelly McKinney
richmondindepth@gmail.com
Like a well-timed toss of a stick into the spokes of a bicycle wheel, a recent vote by the Richmond City Commission brought the rollout of the new 911 land use fee to a screeching halt.
How exactly did a months-long effort to develop a way to fund 911 in Madison County fall apart?
Here’s what we know.
Due to pushback from citizens, the Richmond City Commission voted at its July 22 meeting to fund city property owners’ portion of the 911 fees, up to $2.38 million. City officials are now conducting their own research on 911 funding options.
Within days of that vote, the Madison County Fiscal Court convened for a special-called meeting that lasted over two hours, during which magistrates heard reading of an ordinance that would rescind the previously established funding mechanism. That ordinance is expected to be voted on at the fiscal court’s Aug. 12 meeting.
At that meeting, Madison County Deputy Judge-Executive Jill Williams stated that Richmond’s move changed the dynamic of the funding structure because most of the properties that would bring in higher amounts of funding are located in the Richmond city limits.
“A lot of the complexities that were outlined in the framework—a large contingent of multi-family, a large contingent of business—all of those are really more heavily in the city limits,” she said, adding that 86% of the unincorporated parts of the county is farmland. “That makes our makeup very different.”
Under the fee structure, owners of single-family homes and farms, multi-family residential units, and commercial and industrial property would have paid according to square footage, with commercial properties paying the most at 12.2 cents per square foot.
Owners of land-only farms and residential parcels would have paid a flat rate of $25.
Following the special-called fiscal court meeting, Berea officials announced to the city council at their Aug. 5 meeting that they also intend to present a resolution to rescind approval of the interlocal agreement and research ways to fund 911.
The result is that all three local governments have now taken U-turns when it comes to funding 911.
Richmond City Commission’s decision made because ‘the citizens have asked for something different’
Citizen pushback on the fee erupted after the county sent letters to property owners countywide detailing fee amounts. The complaints included mistakes in the calculated fee amounts, but many also involved the perceived fairness of the fees.
Richmond resident Debbie Vescio questioned the purpose of basing the fees on square footage at the July 8 city commission meeting, stating that a previously considered flat fee on residential property would be more equitable.
“Even though you would have to pay a little bit more, it would be fair to everybody,” Vescio said.
The first proposed fee structure would have put more of the cost burden on most single-family homeowners than the fee that was ultimately approved, which puts a higher cost on owners of some larger commercial properties than the previous recommendation.
At the July 8 meeting, commissioners discussed when and by whom the fee structure had changed since that suggested structure, which was presented at a March 2024 joint government meeting. The recommendation included that residential properties carry a flat fee per main entrance, with the amount set at $75 to illustrate the funding that would be realized at that amount. Multi-family housing fees would have been capped at $2,700. Commercial properties would have been charged according to square footage tiers, capped at $4,800 for structures of 125,001 square feet or more.
City Manager Rob Minerich told commissioners at that meeting that the task force did not develop the later fee structure that had ultimately been approved.
“There’s a misconception in the public that the task force came up with the square-footage model,” he said. “We did not.”
The change had been made before the Madison County Fiscal Court approved a resolution setting the square-footage-based fee structure in June 2024, at least six months before each body voted to approve the inter-local agreement establishing the Madison County Emergency Operations Center, its operations, and the funding model.
Williams told Richmond In-Depth in February that the flat fee model was changed due to feedback from citizens who felt it was unfair.
"We listened to feedback from citizens and had a lot of conversation with citizens about why that wasn’t fair across the board," Williams said in an email. "Ultimately, the Fiscal Court wanted to develop a framework that supports our 911 operations adequately but was also fair to citizens."
City commissioners discussed the fee at a meeting in March of this year, during which Minerich said the recommendations for the changes were made following the March 2024 joint meeting.
“The officials made recommended changes,” he said. “It was approved by all three bodies of government.”
Minerich said the city commission’s decision to pay the costs for this year and develop a new fee structure was made in response to citizen feedback.
“The City of Richmond Mayor and Board of Commissioners recognized that the citizens of Madison County were very unhappy with the proposed 911 fee and took the initiative to absorb the cost for the City of Richmond in the first year so we can look at other options,” he said in a written statement. “I think we can all agree that the current model has created confusion and because the citizens have asked for something different that’s what we’re going to do.”
What happens now, plus a comparison of fee structures
Both Richmond and Berea have put together groups to research how to fund 911.
Minerich told Richmond commissioners in July that a variety of models will be looked at, including a possible flat rate on properties or a fee placed on utility bills. He also said the city creating its own 911 was not off the table.
The fiscal court advised county officials at its special-called July 29 meeting to research options.
The governments could decide to go with the model previously recommended by the task force or use some elements of that model.
Richmond city commissioners have said they would want to exclude churches and non-profits from any model that based the fee on property.
Here is a look at the funding structure that was approved by the fiscal court, as well as the structure recommended by the task force.
Fiscal court-approved fee:
Single Family/Farm Dwellings/$0.016 x sq. footage ($25.00 minimum)
Multi-family Dwellings/$0.065 x sq. footage
Occupied Exempt Properties/$0.122 x sq. footage (occupied exempt means properties that are exempted from property tax, such as churches and non-profits)
Occupied Business Properties/$0.122 x sq. footage
Occupied Industrial Properties/$0.0103 x sq. footage
Land Only Single Family/Farm/$25.00 flat fee
Land Only Exempt/$47.00 flat fee
Land Only Business/$47.00 flat fee
Land Only Industrial/$45.00 flat fee
Task force-recommended fees
Single Family/Farm Dwellings/$75 per main entrance
Multi-family Dwellings/$75 per main entrance, with a $1,200 cap on up to 30 doors and a $2,700 cap on 31 doors or more
Occupied Exempt Properties/$500 on properties up to 2,000 square feet; $1,200 on properties between 2,001 and 15,000 square feet; $2,500 on properties between 15,001 and 25,000 square feet; $3,200 on properties between 25,001 square feet and 125,000 square feet; $4,800 for properties 125,001 square feet or more
Occupied Business Properties/Same as for occupied exempt
Occupied Industrial Properties/Same as for occupied exempt
Land Only Single Family/Farm/$75.00
Land Only Exempt/$$75 flat fee
Land Only Business/$75 flat fee
Land Only Industrial/$75 flat fee
Here is a look at what the fee amount would have been for a variety of properties under the fee structure that was approved by the Madison County Fiscal Court and is now being rescinded, as well the fee structure recommended by the task force:
According to officials, the fee that had been approved would have brought in a total of $4.28 million in fiscal year 2025-2026 to help cover 911’s $5.4 million budget.