The Flathead County commissioners will hold a public hearing on Tuesday, July 21, before voting on a proposal to place the creation of a special district for the Flathead Emergency Communications Center on the Nov. 3 general election ballot.

The hearing starts at 11 a.m. Tuesday in the commissioners’ chambers on the third floor of the courthouse in Kalispell.

The commissioners had been scheduled to vote on the resolution on July 14, but were advised by their legal counsel that a public hearing is required.

The proposed levy would cost a home assessed at $200,000 about $35 a year on their property tax bill and would primarily be used to help raise money for capital improvements to the 911 communications system. The levy would bring in an estimated $3.5 million in the first year, or just over $900,000 more than the current interlocal agreement, to be used largely for equipment updates.

City councils in all three incorporated cities in Flathead County — Kalispell, Columbia Falls and Whitefish — recently passed resolutions in support of the levy.

The measure would also bring the center under county control, as opposed to the six-person administrative board under which it has operated since its inception in 2009.

The bulk of the center’s current $3.6 million annual budget comes from fees paid by each of the three incorporated cities based on their population, bringing in $2.59 million, with additional funding coming from a tax on telephone services and other sources. A lingering issue for the cities has been that city taxpayers essentially pay twice for the 911 center, once in city taxes and again at the county level.

Flathead Emergency Communications Center Director Elizabeth Brooks recently told the Daily Inter Lake the center sorely needs to keep its equipment up-to-date.

“Currently, we are keeping the lights on, but as far as making improvements to keep up with the needs of our first responders, that’s where we are falling short,” Brooks told the Inter Lake. “People hear 911 Center and they think about the dispatchers sitting in a room. What they don’t think about are our communications system and all of the equipment that requires.”

Voters rejected two past levy proposals, with one request failing by just a few votes.