City Votes $2.6 Million to Join Radio Network

Saying that it will be a huge benefit to Fullerton, the City Council this week voted to pay $2.6 million to join a communications system that will link police, firefighters and other emergency workers countywide.

The current 400-megahertz radio network has been described by law enforcement officials as obsolete.

The new system has been in the works for a decade. Orange County originally agreed to pay 49% of the system’s cost, but the financial crisis after the county’s late 1994 bankruptcy filing jeopardized the $80-million project.

Last month, the county and its 31 cities reached a consensus on a revised agreement that gives the cities more control of the radio system and reduces the county’s share of the cost to 39%.

Fullerton has $1 million in a county trust account that will go toward its $2.6-million tab. The city plans to finance the entire sum with tax-exempt bonds over the next 10 years, officials said.