State 911 Department

This is a performance audit of Massachusetts’ State 911 Department, covering selected activities from July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2014.

“In accordance with Section 12 of Chapter 11 of the Massachusetts General Laws, the Office of the State Auditor has conducted a performance audit of certain activities of the State 911 Department for the period July 1, 2013 through December 31, 2014.”

Auditors reviewed how the department handled six reimbursable grant programs and the fund that pays for enhanced 911 services.

“In this performance audit, we examined certain activities of the State 911 Department related to the administration of its six reimbursable grants and to the Enhanced 911 Fund.”

Late reimbursements can put financial pressure on local 911 centers, especially when the money is used for payroll.

“Not having timely fulfillment of reimbursement requests, which ranged up to $742,186 within our audit sample and are most commonly used to cover payroll, results in a strain on some PSAPs’ budgets.”

If you pay for phone service in Massachusetts, you help fund the 911 system through a monthly surcharge, so the department’s spending and oversight affect public emergency services you may rely on.

“The surcharge was 75 cents per month during our audit period3 and is imposed on each subscriber or end user whose communication services are capable of accessing and using an enhanced 911 system, in accordance with Section 18H(a) of Chapter 6A of the General Laws.”

The main problems were delayed reimbursements, missing annual reports, and the lack of a required policy advisory committee.

“The State 911 Department has not filed a required annual report since fiscal year 2010.”

The auditor recommended more staffing controls for reimbursements, better training for local 911 centers that submit bad paperwork, annual report controls, and appointments to the advisory committee.

“The State 911 Department should continue to monitor the number of reimbursement requests received, determine what resources it will need to meet its grant-processing guidelines, and ensure that there are enough staff members assigned to do so.”

Beyond the audit findings, the report points to a larger policy issue: Massachusetts had many separate 911 call centers, and regionalizing them could improve service and reduce long-term costs.

“If the State 911 Department wants to facilitate the regionalization of PSAPs more effectively, it should consider taking other measures, such as creating better incentives for communities to regionalize or seeking to enact legislation that would mandate regionalization of PSAPs.”

A PSAP is the local or regional place that answers 911 calls and either sends emergency help directly or transfers the call to the right agency.

“[Facilities] assigned the responsibility of receiving 911 calls and, as appropriate, directly dispatching emergency response services or transferring or relaying emergency 911 calls to other public or private safety agencies or other PSAPs.”