The proliferation of wireless phones is draining money from a fund used to keep Douglas County’s emergency communications system up and running.

But the dwindling pool of cash is no cause for alarm  at least not yet, a county official said.

Jim Denney, the county’s director of emergency communications, said he expected to collect about $420,000 this year to buy equipment, retain phone systems and continue maintenance on the county’s dispatch center. That would be down from $450,000 in 2001.

The money comes from a 75-cent fee charged on monthly bills for phones hooked up to a land line. The money allows the county to provide “enhanced 911” service, which tells emergency dispatchers specific information about a caller’s location that can speed up arrival of a police car, fire truck or ambulance.

Douglas County commissioners agreed Wednesday night to extend the fee through 2003.

Such fees are not charged to accounts for wireless phones, as wireless calls cannot transmit “enhanced 911” information to dispatch.

As more people abandon their land lines in favor of wireless phones, Denney said, the county will be left with less money to operate a system that continues to face increasing demands.

“The $420,000 (estimate) is conservative,” Denney said, “but we won’t approach $450,000.”

The money is used to maintain and equip the county’s emergency dispatch center and related systems.

Earlier this year the county used $31,000 from the fee fund to replace a controller damaged during renovations at the Judicial & Law Enforcement Center, 111 E. 11th St. Last week commissioners approved paying $27,500 for equipment to boost emergency communications in southern Douglas County.

The new equipment will correct a “longstanding problem” for rural firefighters and first responders working largely south of U.S. Highway 56, where their portable radios and pagers function in only about 50 percent to 60 percent of the area.

With the upgrade  radio repeaters will be installed in Baldwin  coverage should expand to 80 percent to 90 percent of the area, Denney said.

In other action Wednesday, commissioners:

l Agreed to boost fees charged for building permits during the next three years. The fee on a new home valued at $100,000 currently costs $480; such a permit would cost $614 in 2003, $785 in 2004 and $994 in 2005. The change won’t be formally approved until the county’s justification for the increased fees has been delivered to the Lawrence Home Builders Assn.

l Approved a resolution prohibiting the issuance of building permits for construction on properties accessible from “minimum-maintenance” roads. Because such roads typically are inappropriate for regular use  often because they’re too steep, too narrow or cross a creek  commissioners don’t want townships or the county to be pressured into upgrading such roads without private investment.