History

In 1984, the Texas Legislature passed the Emergency Communications District Act authorizing Texas counties with populations in excess of 75,000 to establish a special 9-1-1 service district.  In April 1985, the citizens of Tarrant County overwhelmingly (86.5% of the vote) approved a referendum creating a communications district and giving authorization to collect a service fee (20 cents per residential phone line, 46 cents per business phone line and 74 cents per business trunk line). Following the 1985 balloting, the Tarrant County 9-1-1 Emergency Assistance District was staffed and began working to build the region's first 9-1-1 telecommunications network. On August 2, 1987, Enhanced 9-1-1 was implemented across Tarrant County.

Today, Tarrant County 9-1-1 provides Enhanced 9-1-1 wireline and wireless services to approximately 1.9 million people within the District's jurisdiction.

Funding

Legislation under which the District was created authorizes the District to receive a monthly per-line fee from each telephone customer of up to six percent of the telephone service provider's base rate. The Tarrant County fee was set by the board at two percent of SBC's rate. The monthly fees assessed each telephone line are as follows:

	Residential lines:	.20 per line
	Business lines:	.46 per line
	Business trunks:	.74 per trunk
	Nomadic VoIP:	.50 per number

In addition to the fee established by the Board of Managers, the District also receives a portion of the statewide surcharge on wireless telephone service. The surcharge is assessed at 50 cents per activated handset and is distributed to 9-1-1 jurisdictions based upon population.