The General Assembly settled the 2026-27 state budget without touching the Pennsylvania 911 surcharge, and that decision left the cost of running county dispatch centers exactly where it was already sitting. Governor Josh Shapiro signed the $50.85 billion spending plan on July 12. The monthly fee attached to every phone line in the commonwealth stays at $1.95, the rate it has carried since March 1, 2024.
For Bucks County, the consequence is already written down. The county’s 911 operation collected $14,478,314 in surcharge money during 2024 and spent every dollar of it, closing the year with a balance of zero. A further $2,236,894 of its dispatch costs was paid from somewhere other than the fee.
Those figures come from the annual accounting the Pennsylvania Emergency Management Agency is required to file with the General Assembly, which reports revenue and spending for all 61 county call centers line by line.
Where the Bucks County dispatch money went
The bulk of the county’s allocation was a formula payment of $14,209,341, calculated on population, population density and land area. A statewide interconnectivity payment added $156,862, and interest brought in $112,112. Bucks also drew a $55,000 grant for mapping work tied to the new call routing system…