Fishers Island 911 Calls Cost County $26K a Month

As the easternmost — and most remote — hamlet of Southold Town, Fishers Island, which is much closer to Connecticut than Orient Point, has only one New York State trooper on duty and has for years relied on the department to dispatch emergency 911 calls.

And even though the number of calls is nominal for this island of about 300 full-timers, the cost to Suffolk County is $26,000 per month, according to an information technology expert.

Matt Jones, who works in Suffolk County’s IT department, and approached the Town Board during Tuesday’s work session for help in figuring out why the monthly bill has become so astronomical and what can be done to reduce it.

Jones explained how the emergency signal was originally set up in the early 1990s.

“It was routed through Connecticut, then to Southold Police headquarters, then through to the county,” he said. “To this day we are still paying the bill. In 2002, we were spending about $6,000 a month — now we’re up to $26,000 a month.”

Jones said that Fishers Island has a private telephone company, but AT&T routes the 911 calls through a dedicated emergency line, ensuring the calls get to both the town and the county.

“It’s just an old technology,” Jones said.

“I don’t understand what’s involved in those charges — we still have more discussions to figure this out,” said Supervisor Scott Russell. “It certainly does not reflect the volume of calls from Fishers Island.”

Jones said he would meet with the Fishers Island telephone company to see how they can resolve the issue.