County should show better dedication to public safety

Various public safety folks have been working to develop a county-wide radio system to close critical communication gaps in emergency responses. Currently, there are problems communicating from inside buildings, and there are some communities that are "communication islands" that simply cannot talk to neighboring agencies. The proposed new system is a hybrid of various technologies that address the real-world problems.

Unfortunately, it's an expensive system. It'll cost a little over $30 million to build and approximately $1.5 million per year to maintain/operate. For comparison, the 2010 Dane County budget shows about $85,000 for radio system and mobile data system maintenance. The County has been trying to get the municipalities to absorb the $1.5 million/year on their budgets, and the municipalities have been objecting.

In my mind, it's obvious that the new radio system infrastructure needs to go on the County's budget.

The prime reason is that this is shared, county-wide public safety infrastructure. While it makes sense for each municipality to continue paying for its own radios, it also makes sense for the County to continue funding the shared infrastructure that truly benefits the entire county's safety. After all, what is the County government's job if it's not to provide the shared resources that we all need?

The other reason is that each and every municipality in the county must be persuaded to join the new system in order for it to be worth the money and effort. The municipalities will need to spend a bunch of money to upgrade radios in order to work with the new system. This isn't too hard to swallow because approximately 2/3 of that cost will need to happen anyway due to federal mandates on new radio technology. However, if the municipalities would have to also absorb the new infrastructure costs, the politicians would likely be inclined to tell the emergency responders to live without it. The "communication island" effect would be alive and well, which means that nothing would have been gained in the name of public safety.

The bottom line is that Dane County should continue to provide the shared infrastructure that benefits the public safety of the entire county. The municipalities should continue to provide the equipment that their own agencies specifically need. The new radio system is a huge opportunity for the County to make tangible improvements to public safety - it's unfortunate that they are dropping the ball.