
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, July 19, 1995                   TAG: 9507190054
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-3   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: RON BROWN STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: FINCASTLE                                 LENGTH: Medium

BETTER BOTETOURT 911 BILL: $1.75 A MONTH FOR 4 YEARS

Botetourt County telephone customers will have another $1.75 tacked onto their bills by year's end as the county gears up for an enhanced 911 dispatch system, scheduled to start in late 1998.

The county Board of Supervisors approved the surcharge Tuesday to offset cost of the new $2.5 million system, which will help eliminate radio dead spots and help dispatchers instantaneously identify the location of emergency callers.

A county group determined that improvements to the radio system were essential if enhanced 911 was to be effective. Enhanced 911 uses a computer database to identify the location of callers and to make recommendation about which emergency units should respond.

Karen Rutschman, the county's 911 coordinator, said she expects the new surcharge to start appearing on telephone bills by late November or December.

State law allows localities to add the surcharge to offset enhanced 911 costs.

County Administrator Gerald Burgess told the supervisors that he expected the surcharge to last no more than four years.

With an estimated 14,200 telephone lines, the county will garner about $290,000 a year from the surcharge.

The county plans to use money received for housing federal prisoners, state grant money and other revenues to offset the remainder of the start-up cost.

Rutschman said some communities in the northern end of the county still need to be given numerical addresses so emergency units will know where to respond.

After that is completed, the county will need to get updated aerial photographs so maps of the county can be improved and potential 911 users can be identified.

County 911 researchers will then have to walk the county to verify each address before the information is keyed into a database.

Testing of the system should start in mid-1998, Rutschman said.

In other business, the board:

Accepted a $429,720 bid by J.P. Turner & Bros. Inc. of Salem for construction of a new road, storm drain pipe, sewer pipe, manholes and storm-water retention areas at Vista Corporate Park. The county announced last week that A.O. Smith Automotive Products Co. of Milwaukee will invest $24 million to build a plant in the park, off U.S. 11 in Hollins. Groundbreaking is scheduled Aug. 23.

Agreed to have County Attorney Buck Heartwell meet with Fincastle District Supervisor Bonnie Mayo and other county officials to see if a stronger curfew law can be developed. Mayo said a Neighborhood Watch group in Eagle Rock has complained about unsupervised children roaming the streets at night.

by CNB