County learns it can help ambulance non-profits with radio costs

Linn County can help pay for new communications equipment after all, Supervisor Ben Rogers said late this afternoon.

“The legal barrier has been removed,” said Rogers. “Now, it's going to be a policy discussion.”

Rogers, D-Cedar Rapids, said the county's bonding attorney has advised him the county can legally provide financial help to private non-profits that perform a public-safety function – such as the non-profit ambulance services that cover much of the county. That reverses earlier advice to the board.

Instead of a letter to rural ambulance services informing them the county can't legally cover their costs, Rogers said he'll instead ask each service for an estimate of the cost for equipment needed to communicate with sheriff's deputies and fire departments after Jan. 1, 2013. That's the deadline radio users face t0 “narrowband” their communications to free up more bandwidth for wireless devices.

Rogers said the county could lease new equipment to the services with a buy-back provision, buy it outright, or explore other arrangements.

“That's the next step, to figure out how much it's going to cost,” said Rogers.

The county has authority to bond up to $8 million for the project.

“We were operating under an incorrect assumption that we could not bond,” said Rogers, chairman of the county board. “It's his opinion