34A.7 - FUNDING -- E911 SERVICE SURCHARGE.
34A.7 FUNDING -- E911 SERVICE SURCHARGE.
When an E911 service plan is implemented, the costs of providing
E911 service within an E911 service area are the responsibility of
the joint E911 service board and the member political subdivisions.
Costs in excess of the amount raised by imposition of the E911
service surcharge provided for under subsection 1 shall be paid by
the joint E911 service board from such revenue sources allocated
among the member political subdivisions as determined by the joint
E911 service board. Funding is not limited to the surcharge, and
surcharge revenues may be supplemented by other permissible local and
state revenue sources. A joint E911 service board shall not commit a
political subdivision to appropriate property tax revenues to fund an
E911 service plan without the consent of the political subdivision.
A joint E911 service board may approve an E911 service plan,
including a funding formula requiring appropriations by participating
political subdivisions, subject to the approval of the funding
formula by each political subdivision. However, a political
subdivision may agree in advance to appropriate property tax revenues
or other moneys according to a formula or plan developed by an
alternative chapter 28E entity.
1. Local wire-line E911 service surcharge imposition.
a. To encourage local implementation of E911 service, one
source of funding for E911 emergency telephone communication systems
shall come from a surcharge per month, per access line on each access
line subscriber, except as provided in subsection 5, equal to the
lowest amount of the following:
(1) One dollar.
(2) An amount less than one dollar, which would fully pay both
recurring and nonrecurring costs of the E911 service system within
five years from the date the maximum surcharge is imposed.
(3) The maximum monetary limitation approved by referendum.
b. The surcharge shall be imposed by order of the program
manager as follows:
(1) The program manager shall notify a local exchange service
provider scheduled to provide exchange access line service to an E911
service area that implementation of an E911 service plan has been
approved by the joint E911 service board and by the service area
referendum and that collection of the surcharge is to begin within
one hundred days.
(2) The program manager shall also provide notice to all affected
public safety answering points.
2. Surcharge collected by local exchange service providers.
a. The surcharge shall be collected as part of the access
line service provider's periodic billing to a subscriber. In
compensation for the costs of billing and collection, the local
exchange service provider may retain one percent of the gross
surcharges collected. If the compensation is insufficient to fully
recover a local exchange service provider's costs for billing and
collection of the surcharge, the deficiency shall be included in the
local exchange service provider's costs for ratemaking purposes to
the extent it is reasonable and just under section 476.6. The
surcharge shall be remitted to the E911 service operating authority
for deposit into the E911 service fund quarterly by the local
exchange service provider. The total amount for multiple exchanges
may be combined.
b. A local exchange service provider is not liable for an
uncollected surcharge for which the local exchange service provider
has billed a subscriber but not been paid. The surcharge shall
appear as a single line item on a subscriber's periodic billing
entitled, "E911 emergency telephone service surcharge".
c. The joint E911 service board may request, not more than
once each quarter, the following information from the local exchange
service provider:
(1) The identity of the exchange from which the surcharge is
collected.
(2) The number of lines to which the surcharge was applied for
the quarter.
(3) The number of refusals to pay per exchange if applicable.
(4) Write-offs applied per exchange if applicable.
(5) The number of lines exempt per exchange.
(6) The amount retained by the local exchange service provider
generated from the one percent administration fee.
d. Access line counts and surcharge remittances are
confidential public records as provided in section 34A.8.
3. Maximum limit per subscriber billing for surcharge. An
individual subscriber shall not be required to pay on a single
periodic billing the surcharge on more than one hundred access lines,
or their equivalent, in an E911 service area. A subscriber shall pay
the surcharge in each E911 service area in which the subscriber
receives access line service.
4. E911 service fund. Each joint E911 service board shall
establish and maintain as a separate account an E911 service fund.
Any funds remaining in the account at the end of each fiscal year
shall not revert to the general funds of the member political
subdivisions, except as provided in subsection 5, but shall remain in
the E911 service fund. Moneys in an E911 service fund may only be
used for nonrecurring and recurring costs of the E911 service plan as
approved by the program manager, as those terms are defined by
section 34A.2.
5. Use of moneys in fund -- priority and limitations on
expenditure.
a. Moneys deposited in the E911 service fund shall be used
for the repayment of any bonds issued for the benefit of or loan made
to the joint E911 service board pursuant to sections 34A.20 through
34A.22, and as long as any such bond or loan remains unpaid the
surcharge shall not be reduced or eliminated. Moneys deposited in
the fund shall be subject to such terms and conditions as may be
contained in the relevant bond documents, trust indenture,
resolution, loan agreement, or other instrument pursuant to which
bonds are issued or a loan is made, without regard to any limitation
otherwise provided by law. The surcharge may be increased, but shall
not exceed the maximum allowed in subsection 1, upon approval of the
authority upon such terms and conditions as may be contained in the
relevant bond documents, trust indenture, resolution, loan agreement,
or other instrument pursuant to which bonds are issued or a loan is
made, as deemed necessary or prudent by the authority to secure
repayment and assure marketability or a reasonable interest rate.
b. Moneys deposited in the E911 service fund shall be used
for the following, in order of priority if paragraph "a" does not
apply:
(1) Money shall first be spent for actual recurring costs of
operating the E911 service plan.
(2) If money remains in the fund after fully paying for recurring
costs incurred in the preceding year, the remainder may be spent to
pay for nonrecurring costs, not to exceed actual nonrecurring costs
as approved by the program manager.
(3) If money remains in the fund after fully paying obligations
under subparagraphs (1) and (2), the remainder may be accumulated in
the fund as a carryover operating surplus. If the surplus is greater
than twenty-five percent of the approved annual operating budget for
the next year, the program manager shall reduce the surcharge by an
amount calculated to result in a surplus of no more than twenty-five
percent of the planned annual operating budget. After nonrecurring
costs have been paid, if the surcharge is less than the maximum
allowed and the fund surplus is less than twenty-five percent of the
approved annual operating budget, the program manager shall, upon
application of the joint E911 service board, increase the surcharge
in an amount calculated to result in a surplus of twenty-five percent
of the approved annual operating budget. The surcharge may only be
adjusted once in a single year, upon one hundred days' prior notice
to the provider.
6. Limitation of actions -- provider not liable on cause of
action related to provision of 911 services. A claim or cause of
action does not exist based upon or arising out of an act or omission
in connection with a land-line or wireless provider's participation
in an E911 service plan or provision of 911 or local exchange access
service, unless the act or omission is determined to be willful and
wanton negligence.
7. Referendum on adjusting maximum of approved surcharge. If
a local option E911 service surcharge was approved by referendum
prior to April 4, 1990, the maximum E911 service surcharge monetary
limitation may be amended up to a total of one dollar, per month, per
access line, by another referendum as provided in section 34A.6. A
joint E911 service board may adjust its E911 service surcharge within
the monetary limitation approved by referendum as provided under this
subsection by a simple majority vote of the voting members. As a
result of the adjustment, the E911 service surcharge, per month, per
access line, on each access line subscriber, except as provided in
subsection 5, shall not exceed the lowest amount of the following:
a. One dollar.
b. An amount less than one dollar, which would fully pay both
recurring and nonrecurring costs of the E911 service system within
five years from the date of the adjustment.
c. The maximum monetary limitation approved by referendum.
Section History: Recent Form
88 Acts, ch 1177, § 7
C89, § 477B.7
89 Acts, ch 168, § 4--6; 90 Acts, ch 1144, § 2--4
C93, § 34A.7
98 Acts, ch 1101, § 8, 16; 2004 Acts, ch 1175, §450--452; 2005
Acts, ch 140, §1