Latest news with #SREC
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Business
- Yahoo
FirstEnergy completes third solar site in West Virginia
MARLOWE, (WBOY) — FirstEnergy, which operates Mon Power and Potomac Edison in West Virginia, has converted an ash landfill in Berkeley County into a solar site, the third one by the company in West Virginia. The site has 17,000 solar panels and produces 5.75 megawatts of power, which is enough to power almost 1,000 homes, according to estimates. A press release from FirstEnergy said the site, along with the two other operational sites in Maidsville and Rivesville, will help meet West Virginia's electricity needs. Photo of West Virginia Trooper praying with homeless man goes viral 'Our solar projects create construction jobs, support U.S. manufacturing and help us accommodate increased demand for electricity. We are committed to ensuring that our customers have the right mix and amount of generation to support their everyday needs, and our solar facilities are a growing part of that,' Dan Rossero, Vice President of FirstEnergy's West Virginia Generation, said in the press release. FirstEnergy has plans to create five total solar sites in West Virginia which will create enough power for more than 8,000 homes and generate more than 87,000 solar renewable energy credits (SREC) that can be purchased by customers in West Virginia. According to FirstEnergy, at 4 cents per kilowatt hour on top of normal rates, West Virginia customers can purchase and use SREC for as little as $2 per month. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
16-05-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Spokane promised share of 911 dispatch funds if negotiations fail with regional dispatcher
May 15—A once-contentious bill to claw back Spokane's share of taxes funding the regional 911 dispatch service was signed by Governor Bob Ferguson Thursday — and after some modifications, all sides appear pleased by the outcome. "We are very pleased with the amended bill language," said Cody Rohrbach, Fire District 3 chief and chair of the regional dispatcher's board. Every police and fire jurisdiction in Spokane County, except for the Spokane Police Department, is a member of Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC. After years of negotiations to bring the city police department into the fold, stalled over disputes about fees and power on the SREC board, the proposal collapsed in January as the SREC board voted instead to kick the city fire department out of the partnership. This left the city scrambling to stand up its own 911 dispatch service and find the funds to do so. While the SREC board has since somewhat walked back its January decision, and both parties are expected to soon enter mediation to talk through possibly repairing the partnership, the bill signed Thursday does guarantee some funding if the city goes it alone. Days before negotiations collapsed in January, Spokane's state Reps. Timm Ormsby and Natasha Hill introduced a bill that would claw back funds from the regional dispatcher, though the rest of the SREC coalition initially accused lawmakers of trying to take more than the city was owed. The regional dispatcher is funded through a sales tax, an excise tax on phone bills, and a user fee each jurisdiction must pay on top of the taxes proportional to their demand on the system. The sales tax is apportioned by law and will return to the city upon its full exit from the SREC system, according to city officials. That left a brewing fight over the roughly $5 million of excise tax dollars generated per year in the county. About 55% of the 911 calls in Spokane County last year came from within Spokane city limits, and city leadership and their allies in the legislature initially argued the city should receive roughly that large a slice of the pie. When it was first introduced, HB 1258, which was narrowly tailored and only applies to Spokane and SREC, gave the city more than half of the excise taxes. But the rest of SREC's leadership believes that the city is only owed the tax dollars generated within its own borders, which they estimate at closer to 42% based on the city's population, implicitly arguing the city should not receive funding to compensate for its higher per-capita need, including due to the disproportionate share of people commuting into the city for work. The bill was amended, however, in such a way as to leave the final apportionment undetermined. The city and the rest of the SREC coalition can either come to an agreement or fight it out in Spokane County Superior Court. If the city goes it alone, payments to the city begin in 2026. "I am grateful to the Washington Legislature and Governor Bob Ferguson for passing House Bill 1258 and signing it into law," Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown wrote in a statement. "This bill ensures equitable distribution of local 911 excise tax funding for emergency communications, which is essential in building a fair, effective, and reliable system should the City of Spokane need to establish its own."
Yahoo
20-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spokane dispatch funding bill passes house, heads to Senate
Mar. 19—OLYMPIA — A bill to divvy up tax revenue as the Spokane Fire Department prepares to leave the regional 911 center continues to move forward in the Washington Legislature. Every police and fire jurisdiction in Spokane County, except the Spokane Police Department, is a member of Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC. In January, following years of negotiations to bring the city police department into the agency, the proposal collapsed and the SREC board voted to end negotiations and remove the city fire department. Sponsored by Democratic state Reps. Timm Ormsby and Natasha Hill of Spokane, the bill would divide roughly $5 million of excise tax dollars generated per year in the county. While similar proposals have been introduced in previous sessions, the legislation took a step forward last week after it successfully passed out of the House of Representatives. The bill is under consideration in the Senate Ways and Means Committee. The regional dispatcher is funded through a sales tax, an excise tax on phone bills, and a user fee each jurisdiction must pay on top of the taxes proportional to their demand on the system. The excise tax dollars generated per year in the county are the source of the argument. With around 55% of the 911 calls in Spokane County last year coming from Spokane city limits, city leadership argued the city should receive roughly that proportion of revenue from the excise tax. "If we have to run a primary PSAP, it's only right that we should have a portion of the two dedicated funding streams that are meant to fund that service in our county," Spokane City Administrator Alex Scott said as he testified in support during a Senate Ways and Means Committee hearing Tuesday. At the hearing, Spokane Fire Chief Julie O'Berg testified that funding from the bill would "provide a framework for the communications infrastructure we are losing by being removed from the regional communication system, provide training for dispatchers, and implement technologies that can save lives." "The passage of the bill is a critical component to ensuring that our emergency response system remains robust and is capable of meeting the needs of our growing community," O'Berg said. Katy Myers, chair of the Washington state 911 advisory committee, argued the bill "contradicts our repeated recommendations to protect the integrity of the 911 excise tax fund." The bill, Myers said, would "further divide an already insufficient fund," and she urged members of the Senate to vote against it. "My biggest concern is that you're taking a fund that's already underfunded and putting it out into more centers, which costs more money," Myers said. A similar bill was introduced in 2023, but it was not adopted after its sponsors acknowledged it would likely disrupt ongoing negotiations. As of Wednesday, a vote in the Senate Ways and Means Committee has not been scheduled.
Yahoo
01-03-2025
- Yahoo
Cheney police chief resigns over declining health
Feb. 28—Cheney police Chief Richard Beghtol resigned from the department this week due to declining health, the department said in a social media post. Beghtol was named chief in 2022 after 10 years with the department and additional years with the Washington State Patrol and Eastern Washington University Police Department. "His leadership was pivotal in implementing the transition to the New World/Dispatch system for SREC, which has streamlined our response capabilities. Under his guidance, we established the West Plains Crisis Response collaboration, secured a second detective position, and launched a dedicated traffic unit, placing a strong emphasis on traffic enforcement," the post said. "Chief Beghtol has left an indelible mark on the men and women of the Cheney Police Department. His commitment to our community and dedication to public safety will be remembered fondly. We wish him all the best in his well-deserved retirement. Thank you, Chief Beghtol, for your service and leadership." Beghtol moved to Spokane from Colorado when he was 9 years old, according to the Cheney Free Press. He was named Cheney's "Officer of the Year" in 2017. A call to request information on a potential interim police chief or a rehiring process went unanswered Friday afternoon.
Yahoo
31-01-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Spokane, SREC board point fingers as fight over 911 dispatch funding heats up
Jan. 30—Spokane Mayor Lisa Brown on Thursday justified a push by two political allies in Olympia to claw back tax dollars from the regional 911 dispatch operator that two weeks ago booted the city of Spokane from its coalition. Every police and fire jurisdiction in Spokane County, except for the Spokane Police Department, is a member of Spokane Regional Emergency Communications, or SREC. After years of negotiations to bring the city police department into the fold, which dragged on due to disputes about board representation and user fees, the proposal collapsed earlier this month as the SREC board voted to end negotiations and kick out the city fire department. The city wants its money back, but now both sides accuse the other of not just asking for their fair share but of trying to take the other's tax dollars. On Wednesday, the rest of the coalition held a press conference arguing the bill, sponsored by Democratic Spokane state Reps. Timm Ormsby and Natasha Hill, would give the city more money from the regional 911 dispatcher than it deserves. The regional dispatcher is funded through three sources: a sales tax, an excise tax on phone bills and a user fee each jurisdiction must pay on top of the taxes proportional to their demand on the system. The sales tax is already apportioned by law and will return to the city upon their full exit from the SREC system, according to city officials. The former partners are fighting, instead, over the roughly $5 million of excise tax dollars generated per year in the county. About 55% of the 911 calls in Spokane County last year came from within Spokane city limits, and city leadership and their allies in the legislature argue the city should receive roughly that large a slice of the pie. HB 1258, which is narrowly tailored so that it only applies to Spokane and SREC, would give the city excise tax funds based on this demand-based principle. In the bill's first committee hearing Thursday, Ormsby said he wants to make sure his constituents "get what they pay for." "And they currently are not," Ormsby argued. But the rest of SREC's leadership believes that the city is only owed the tax dollars generated within its own borders, which they estimate at closer to 42% based on the city's population, implicitly arguing the city should not receive funding to compensate for its higher per-capita need, including due to the disproportionate share of people commuting into the city for work. During Thursday's press conference, Brown said she believed a demand-based tax sharing proposal was fair and necessary to fully implement a city 911 dispatch service by January 2026, when the fire department will be officially booted from SREC. However, she agreed that the funding formula could be modified before the bill makes its way to a floor vote in the legislature, though she argued the share of excise tax funds generated within the city is more complicated to calculate than the SREC board has claimed. In any case, Brown said, "we still need a bill, because absent that, all of the excise tax revenue is kept by... SREC." While the city has argued that SREC has been rash to end negotiations and begin to kick out the city fire department, Brown also signaled Thursday that the city had already come to the conclusion that it would prefer to operate its own standalone 911 dispatch service, claiming the SREC system had not met certain standards. Notably, a variation of HB 1258 was introduced in 2023 but not advanced through the process after its sponsors, acknowledging it would likely disrupt negotiations, decided to stall to give the city and SREC breathing room to continue bargaining. The bill was reintroduced this year with Ormsby as the prime sponsor, but this time it was advanced — a renewed effort Brown claimed to have not had a hand in, though she noted the Spokane City Council had listed it as a legislative priority this year — which SREC leadership listed as a final straw ending negotiations. The bill, which only has a practical effect if the city of Spokane wasn't inside the SREC system, appears to have been seen by SREC leadership as a tacit threat: agree to the city's terms, or the city will come after the rest of the system's money. SREC officials argue the city has been the primary beneficiary of the partnership all along, claiming the city is already being subsidized to the tune of roughly $750,000 per year because the city's 911 demand is proportionally larger than its tax contributions into the system's funding. This figure does not appear to include the considerable user fees the city also pays, which are proportionate to their demand on the dispatch system. The bill's intentionally narrow scope, which means it will only apply to the current dispute in Spokane, was noted by several of those who testified Thursday. "My name is Frank Soto Jr., and I'm the fire chief of the Spokane Valley Fire Department," Soto said. "If you don't know where that is, we are in a county located east of the crest of the Cascade Mountains with a population between 530,000 and 1.5 million people receiving tax revenues for a regional 911 emergency system," he added, referencing the bill's obtuse way of only applying to Spokane and SREC without simply saying so. Soto noted that several of the committee members smirked at his description. It's unclear how eager the rest of the legislature will be to weigh in on a local dispute. Rep. April Berg, D-Mill Creek, Chair of the House Finance Committee, noted that most other jurisdictions have managed to come to agreements to form their regional dispatch system, while "...Spokane has decided to ask this august body to adjudicate said dispute." Regardless of how this specific issue is resolved in the legislature, it appears unlikely to be the only time the city goes to war with the rest of SREC over what it says is its fair share of money. The agency is sitting on roughly $30 million in reserves, a lot of which comes from user fees, which SREC intends to spend on a new dispatch center — Brown says that the city wants its portion of those reserves back and is willing to go to court to get it . Reporter Mitchell Roland contributed to this article.
