XENIA — The Greene County Board of Commissioners unanimously voted this week to sign a contract with Multi-Agency Radio Communications System, but representatives from some local jurisdictions say they are concerned about how the radio equipment they need will be financed.

The contract the county signed Thursday is one of a series of steps toward moving toward developing a digital communications radio system network where federal, state, and local public safety agencies can communicate with one another.

“It’s very necessary that the emergency responders be able to communicate with each other,” said Beavercreek Twp. Trustee Bob Glaser. “That’s what P25 (Project 25) is supposed to be.”

The foundation, or infrastructure, of the system is estimated to cost at least $3.7 million, according to Howard Poston, the Greene County administrator. That price escalates to $4.9 million when coupled with the costs of a dispatch console, a paging system and the replacement or upgrade of 342 county radios.

The infrastructure, which includes the radio towers and equipment, supports the rest of the system.

The county is obligated to pay part, about $250,083, of the cost associated with the dispatching system which is used in Xenia. The paging system, which is used by some of the volunteer fire departments in some of the outlying towns around the county, is estimated to cost about $300,000.

The county plans to borrow about $4 million to help cover the cost, according to Poston, and will pay back the loan over the course of 15 years.

The county will also look at grants to help offset the remaining balance.

One of the advantages of using is the MARCS system is 24/7 monitoring.

“It’s public safety,” Poston said. “Someone should always be watching.”

Now that the contract is signed, the county commissioners will have to decide whether to keep the $1.8 million in user fee credits issued by MARCS or share it with other jurisdictions in the county.

According to Poston, there’s no rush to make the decision. He estimates the county won’t start paying for the system until January 14, 2014.

“We don’t know when we will have the system up,” Poston said. “We hope sometime next year.”

What is not clear is is how the county’s decision will effect cities and township, most of which will have to purchase new radios.

Concerns about the system

Those who join MARCS likely will have to purchase new radios or upgrade the ones they have. In addition, they will have to pay a $20 a month fee per radio to help cover the cost of the state maintaining the MARCS infrastructure.

“MARCS is a perfectly legitimate system. We are just concerned about how we arrived at that system and the upfront costs and the on-going costs (because of new subscriber fees),” said Assistant Xenia City Manager Brent Merriman. “All the local jurisdictions will be paying more because that cost is being deferred back from the county to the cities and townships.”

Merriman said the costs quickly add up. Xenia will need about 170 radios. The annual fee per radio will be about $240.

Currently, the county maintains the current radio system and local jurisdictions pay no subscriber fee.

Last month, Greene County and Beavercreek joined a loan program to purchase radios for MARCS migration. Miami, Cedarville and New Jasper townships also are partners in the 10-year, $369,000 loan from the Local Government Innovation Fund that will be administered by Beavercreek Twp.

That competitive statewide program awards up to $100,000 in loans per entity and up to $500,000 in loans for collaborative projects.

“We like the idea of a countywide radio system and the fact that it will be run by the state,” Bellbrook City Manager Mark Schlagheck said. “What we are unsure about is the cost.”

Bellbrook would have to upgrade or replace about 80 radios. They typically cost about $5,000 to $6,000 each.

Motorola and Harris, two of six companies that sell radios that can be used on MARCS, are offering radios for about $2,700 each as an incentive through November.

Merriman said the issue has been discussed for a year, but joining MARCS only has been on the table for only a few weeks — giving already financially strapped jurisdictions little time to devise plans for purchasing new radios and paying new fees.

“The reality is a lot of jurisdictions — particularly the townships — just can’t afford that,” he said.

Dispatching and other operations-related questions also are outstanding .

Despite the unknowns, Merriman said city staff will recommend to city council that the city enter into a contract with MARCS. The cost of building separate radio system infrastructures would be too high.

“We don’t have too much choice than to pursue a MARCS contract from purely a cost standpoint,” he said.