Municipal govts. in central Okla. are coordinating their oppositi...

of Central Okla. Govts. asked its 42 member municipalities to adopt resolutions opposing usage-sensitive E-911 tariff; 11 have done so, including Oklahoma City, which is state capital. Municipalities say change could boost their annual 911 costs by up to 25% at time when their budgets already are under pressure from declining revenues. Cities fear even worse future impact as proliferating cellphone use means increasing proportion of total 911 calls come from wireless phones. Proposed 911 tariff change would charge municipalities 23 cents for each 911 call placed from wireless phones after wireless E-911 was implemented, plus $3,900 startup fee. SBC said proposed tariff reflected way that it incurred costs for providing E- 911. State law allows municipalities to impose monthly phone bill fee of up to 50 cents per wireless number to support wireless E-911. But local officials say they're reluctant to impose that fee when they're not sure it can cover uncontrollable usage-sensitive charges for service. Local resolutions say that if SBC must recover additional costs caused by wireless E-911, it should do so through flat monthly fee rather than per-call charges. Landline E-911 costs are covered by fixed monthly charges, with telephone subscribers billed fixed monthly tax or govt. fee.