Clark County residents will soon pay surcharge on telephone bills

Telephone users in Clark County will soon need to pay an extra 50 cents a month per phone line to help pay for 911 infrastructure improvements, with yearly fee hikes planned until they reach $1 per line in 2031.

County commissioners unanimously approved the proposal on Tuesday.

While Nevada law outright allows a monthly fee of up to $1, the county opted for an incremental approach. The surcharges will begin on April 1; additional increases will boost the cost by 10 cents every year until the fee reaches $1.

Telecommunications companies will collect and deposit the fees back into the county. Officials did not estimate exactly how much revenue they expect from the fee, which will apply for every cellular and landline throughout Clark County.

Customers with dispatch systems will be charged an additional $5 a month per unit with yearly dollar increases until a $10 maximum is reached.

Dollars raised can be used for 911 facilities, hardware and software, Clark County Fire Chief Billy Samuels explained to commissioners on Tuesday.

The ordinance also created a 911 Emergency Response Advisory Committee, which will include representatives from regional municipalities and the Metropolitan Police Department.

The committee will determine how the funds are spent.

Officials have cited modernizing the current analog 911 system and helping pay for a planned regional communications center as possible priorities.

Upgrading to a digital system would allow 911 callers to send video and text messages and provide emergency responders with more accurate locations, Samuels said.

The current system has been taken out by incidents outside Clark County’s control, such as a 2024 crash that lasted more than three hours after a tree root broke a line in Missouri, he previously said.

Clark County said it will appoint three people to the committee in February, including someone from its fiscal team.

Nevada law has allowed telephone surcharges to help improve 911 infrastructures since 1995; but until Tuesday, Clark County had passed on implementing them over the years.

Nevada law allows the county’s 911 surcharge fund to hold up to $15 million in uncommitted funds at the end of each fiscal year. Anything in excess of that amount would require the county to collect less in the following year.

Contact Ricardo Torres-Cortez at rtorres@reviewjournal.com.