Price tag for new Linn County radio system: $18 million

With an eye on the state Legislature, Linn County supervisors will likely approve plans this week for a new $18.2 million radio system for police, fire, and other public service agencies.

Supervisors got their first official look this morning at the system, required by the federal government to be operational by 2013 to free bandwidth for burgeoning portable data systems. The system would be adopted simultaneously by the county, Marion, and Cedar Rapids, with Cedar Rapids covering half the cost, Marion 20 percent, and the county 30 percent.

Even with quick action this week, “we're assuming we may not  make a Jan. 1, 2013 deadline,” Sheriff Brian Gardner told supervisors, but he expects the Federal Communications Commission will allow short extensions to the deadline.

The plan calls for about $7 million in new equipment and $11 million in infrastructure, including new broadcast towers, needed to support it.

Dawn Jindrich, the county's budget director, said a bill under consideration in Des Moines would go a long way toward covering the new system's cost. Drawing on the state's 65-cent monthly charge on cell phones, the legislation would allocate up to $8 million to each dispatch center in the county.

“If that doesn't happen, you'd have to do it through property taxes,” Jindrich told supervisors.

The county could reduce its cost by about $1.4 million if supevisors decided to let rural fire departments and police departments in Hiawatha, Mount Vernon, Lisbon, and Robins pay for their own upgraded equipment.

“For Mount Vernon, $69,000 is huge,” said Mount Vernon Police Chief Mark Winder, referring to his department's cost.

Supervisors voted to place the issue on the agenda for Wednesday's formal session.