OPE report finds Idaho’s 9‑1‑1 system underfunded and data‑poor; committee votes release and scopes feasibility follow‑up

The Joint Legislative Oversight Committee voted to release a performance evaluation of Idaho’s 9‑1‑1 system and asked OPE to scope a feasibility follow‑up to answer outstanding cost and consolidation questions.

Tasha Schreiter, a senior evaluator at the Office of Performance Evaluations, presented the report after the committee voted to release it. Schreiter told members that Idaho has 48 primary public safety answering points (PSAPs), funded in part by a $1 per‑line monthly surcharge that has not changed since 1988. The report found that a majority of local centers do not believe they receive sufficient funding and that staffing and technology are the top operational challenges.

Schreiter said OPE identified four system‑wide pressures: insufficient funding for modern operations; workforce recruitment and retention challenges; the likelihood that Idaho operates more centers than current call demand supports; and inconsistent data and limited statewide authority to evaluate or address the issues. The report recommends evolving the Idaho Public Safety Communications Commission into a statewide program with authority to collect standardized budget and expenditure data and to define cost responsibilities between the surcharge and local governments.

Sheriff Andy Creech, chair of the Idaho Public Safety Communications Commission, acknowledged the report and said the commission supports its direction. Creech stressed that statutory limits and aging radio infrastructure complicate consolidation and that long‑term sustainability beyond existing grants will require legislative action and a stable funding source.

Rob Feeley, operations branch chief for the Idaho Office of Emergency Management in the Military Division, told the committee the division supports improved data and is available to assist, but said OPE’s findings show gaps in the data needed to estimate statewide upgrade costs; he declined to provide a ballpark statewide dollar figure without further analysis.

Representative Birch asked OPE to scope a feasibility study that would identify what additional data and analysis would be needed to estimate shortfalls, consolidation costs and radio‑system upgrade needs. The committee voted to ask OPE to consult the IPSCC and the Military Division to determine data availability and the work required for a deeper cost analysis.

The committee’s next step is to receive OPE’s feasibility findings and consider whether to commission a follow‑up analysis that could provide a dollar estimate and suggested funding options for sustaining NextGen 9‑1‑1 services beyond current grant support.