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Urgent Matters


What’s good for me isn’t for first responders

What’s good for me isn’t for first responders

Last week I received a check from my bank, a refund from the escrow account from which the bank pays my property taxes. It was a significant amount of money—at least in the eyes of a journalist (There’s a very good reason my profession is referred to as ...
  • Written by
  • 6th November 2008

Last week I received a check from my bank, a refund from the escrow account from which the bank pays my property taxes. It was a significant amount of money—at least in the eyes of a journalist (There’s a very good reason my profession is referred to as the Fourth Estate). At first I was excited—I’ve had some medical issues this year, so a few bills are going to get paid earlier, which will get my doctors excited. The bank wasn’t sure why the surplus existed—it could have been that the taxes were over-estimated when I bought the house last year. Or it could be that the taxes have dropped, perhaps because the value of my property has dropped.

I thought about the latter possibility. If my taxes have dropped because my property value has diminished, presumably as a result of the lending fiasco, then others—perhaps thousands of others—are in the same boat. Also, consumers are tightening the belt, spending less in stores, restaurants, entertainment venues and the like. That means less sales tax revenue. None of this bodes well for first-responder communications, which is largely dependent on funding generated from tax dollars.

Tags: Commentary Urgent Matters

Most Recent


  • Updated: How 'sidelink' peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations
    Editor’s note: A previous version of this column was posted that included only the first portion of the article—a mistake by the editor. IWCE’s Urgent Communications regrets the error and apologizes for any inconvenience. When first responders are called to action, they need reliable communications to coordinate an effective public-safety response. Public-safety personnel understand this […]
  • NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation
    As the new Congress begins its work in earnest, we look forward to continued progress in funding the transition to IP-based next-generation 911 (NG911) technology. Our nation’s 911 systems are critical to ensuring the safety and security of our communities, and nationwide implementation of NG911 will ensure these systems can leverage the most advanced communications […]
  • How 5G is making cities safer, smarter, and more efficient
    It’s a scenario we’ve all experienced: an ambulance with a blaring siren racing against time to get a person in medical distress to a hospital through traffic. What we don’t see is 5G connectivity enabling paramedics to communicate with hospital staff via video conference and coordinate care in real-time before arriving at the emergency room. […]
  • 3GPP moves Release 18 freeze date to March 2024
    The latest set of 3GPP Plenary electronic meetings (e-meetings) concluded on Dec. 19, 2022. The meetings focused on the Release 18 (R18) feature progress and schedule. It was decided to extend the R18 freeze date (specifications complete for all R18 features) by three months to March 2024 to ensure the quality of the R18 3GPP […]

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Commentary


Updated: How ‘sidelink’ peer-to-peer communications can enhance public-safety operations

  • 1
27th February 2023

NG911 needed to secure our communities and nation

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