Colorado regulators approve higher 911 fee for Elbert County

Colorado regulators approved Elbert County’s request to raise its monthly 911 emergency telephone charge from $2.25 to $3.75 per service user. The higher fee will take effect Feb. 1, 2027, state commission staff told regulators during Wednesday’s hearing.

For residents and businesses, that means each telephone service line covered by the charge will cost $1.50 more per month starting next February.

Commission staff said the increase is meant to shore up the Elbert County Communications Authority’s finances as dispatch and equipment costs rise. Staff said the current charge would be exhausted in 2027 without an increase, while the higher fee is projected to keep the authority solvent through 2031.

Staff also projected the increase would generate about $4.19 million over five years. They said the added revenue is planned for three main needs: building reserves for hardware and end-of-life replacements at the Rattlesnake DTR repeater site, covering rising dispatch-service costs, and paying for repairs or replacements of public-safety radios used to send emergency responders to 911 calls.

The public hearing record pointed to operating-cost pressure as a key driver. Staff told commissioners dispatch expenses were expected to increase 20% in 2026, with similar increases anticipated in future years.

The available hearing record did not show organized opposition to the request. Staff said there were no interventions or public comments on the application before commissioners approved it.

The public discussion focused more on maintaining dispatch operations and replacing aging equipment than on adding new capacity. The record available to Badger did not include a more detailed public breakdown of how much of the projected revenue would go to each category, so it remains unclear whether the authority expects staffing changes beyond covering higher dispatch costs.