City Holding Cy Pres Check

[January 08, 2008]  A $31,431.77 settlement check payable to the city of Lincoln arrived at City Hall on Monday, but didn't get cashed, yet.

The funds are partial reimbursement of a telecommunications tax that was collected some years ago and later deemed to be unconstitutional. Municipalities had to pay back a substantial amount of taxes that had been collected.

Last year Illinois communities were contacted and given the option to petition for cy pres funds from Prime-Co. The legal movement allowed communities to reclaim a portion of the funds as a grant to be used for upgrades in their community's emergency telecommunications system.

The communities of Atlanta, Beason, Broadwell, Chestnut, Elkhart, Emden, Hartsburg, Latham, Lawndale, Lincoln, Middletown, Mount Pulaski, New Holland and San Jose in Logan County made joint application agreeing in their request that the funds would be used by the Logan County 911/Emergency Telecommunications System Board to supply equipment for a third standby station in the communications room.

The third telecommunicator position was completed with recent upgrades on Nov. 28, 2007. It quickly proved its value when on Dec. 1, 2007, the winter season opened with a debilitating ice storm. The 911 call traffic was excessive, but communicators were pleased to not only keep up, but also did not have a single call drop.

The funds from this check will go to the ETSB. Mayor Bill Martin of Atlanta served as the coordinator for the joint request. It was unclear if this would be the only check coming for the grant. Martin just happened to be present at the meeting, and city attorney Bill Bates asked if he knew how much was requested in total. Martin was not certain and said that he'd need to check with the ETSB director, Dan Fulscher. Bates joked, "He may be down here before this meeting's over if he's watching on TV."

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