Broward Officials make deal to keep 911 open

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. (WSVN) -- Broward County officials gathered Thursday to try to keep funding the 911 dispatch services in Fort Lauderdale.

Broward County, the Broward Sheriff, along with the City of Fort Lauderdale came to an agreement to equally share the cost of providing 911 dispatch services for one month to the residents of Fort Lauderdale.

According to Broward County Sheriff Al Lamberti, he had planned on remove 75 emergency dispatchers at midnight that night because neither the county or the city included the $5.7 million budget to run the service in this year's budget. "We are creating a very dangerous position effective midnight, tonight," he said. "We are ready to execute the nuclear option. We have to."

Broward County Commissioner Kristin Jacobs fired back at Lamberti saying that public safety is their number one priority. "This problem that happens at midnight is a failure of poor leadership. You notified the city, the city knew in 2009. They were notified in May, and you-- just like you have with Lauderdale Lakes-- watched the debt roll up, and not address it and continued to try to dump this on the county commission's lap. This is not our problem, this is not our emergency," said Jacobs.

The county, the Sheriff's Office and city will each pay an estimated $200,000 that will cover 30 days of 911 dispatch services.

During the 30 days, the Sheriff and Fort Lauderdale officials will work together to create a one-year plan for the emergency dispatch services, as they wait for a regional plan that is expected to be developed at the end of this year.

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