The County of Saratoga hereby adopts the applicable provisions
of Article 6 of the County Law as they pertain to the County and its
emergency telephone system and hereby imposes a surcharge in an amount
of $0.35 per access line, per month, on the customers of every telephone
service supplier within the County of Saratoga to pay for the costs
associated with obtaining and maintaining the telecommunication equipment
and telephone services needed to provide an enhanced 911 emergency
telephone system to serve Saratoga County.
All words and phrases used in this article shall have the same
meaning as defined in Article 6 of the County Law and as specifically
defined in this article as follows:
E911 SYSTEM
An enhanced emergency telephone service which automatically
connects a person dialing the digits 9-1-1 to an established public
service answering point and which shall include, but not be limited
to, selective routing, automatic number identification and automatic
location identification.
SERVICE SUPPLIER
[Amended 1-19-2010 by L.L. No. 1-2010]
A.
A telephone corporation which provides local exchange access
service within a 911 service area; or
B.
A provider of "voice over Internet protocol service" or "VOIP
service" that provides such service within a 911 service area.
VOICE OVER INTERNET PROTOCOL SERVICE or VOIP SERVICE
Any service that:
[Added 1-19-2010 by L.L.
No. 1-2010]
A.
Enables real-time, two-way voice communications;
B.
Requires a broadband connection from the user's location;
C.
Requires Internet protocol compatible customer premises equipment
(CPE); and
D.
Permits users generally to receive calls that originate on the
public switched telephone network and to terminate calls to the public
switched telephone network.
[Amended 1-19-2010 by L.L. No. 1-2010]
All telephone service suppliers which provide local exchange
access service within the 911 service area shall impose and add such
surcharge to the billing of their customers commencing March 1, 1991.
All providers of voice over Internet protocol service which provide
such service with the 911 area shall impose and add such surcharge
to the billing of its customers commencing March 1, 2010.
All surcharge monies remitted to the County by a service supplier
and all other monies dedicated to the payment of system costs from
whatever source derived or received by the County shall be expended
only upon authorization of the Board of Supervisors and only for payment
of system costs as permitted by Article 6 of the County Law. The County
shall separately account for, and keep adequate books and records
of, the amount and source of all such revenues and of the amount and
object or purpose of all expenditures thereof. If at the end of any
fiscal year the total amount of all such revenues exceeds the amount
necessary and expended for payment of system costs in such fiscal
year, such unencumbered cash surplus shall be carried over for the
payment of system costs in the following fiscal year. However, if
at the end of any fiscal year such unencumbered cash surplus exceeds
an amount equal to 5% of that necessary for the payment of system
costs in such fiscal year, the Board of Supervisors shall, by local
law, reduce the surcharge for the following fiscal year to a level
which more adequately reflects the system cost requirements of its
E911 system. The Board may also, by local law, reestablish or increase
such surcharge, subject to the provisions of Article 6 of the County
Law and this article, if the revenues generated by such surcharge
and by any other source are not adequate to pay for system costs.