Your cell phone is going to cost you about thirty cents more per month starting early in 2024. A new surcharge passed Wednesday by the state legislature as part of the budget deal will raise the rate from $1.65 to $1.95.
The new rate will go into effect on March 1st of next year. The extra fee will raise an estimated $60 million in revenues for 911 services across Pennsylvania. In a full fiscal year, cell phone fees are expected to generate about $392 million.
The new law also includes cost-cutting measures, including an efficiency study to examine how other states operate their 911 services, and the potential of combining 911 with other services such as suicide and crisis lines, plus consideration of whether 911 employees could work from their homes to alleviate manpower shortages.
Governor Shapiro had wanted the new fee raised to $2.03 cents per month and tied to the rate of inflation moving forward. The County Commissioners Association of Pennsylvania advocated for a fee of $2.30 cents, with an increase of fifteen cents per year after that.
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