For some emergency dispatchers retirement seems like an unobtainable goal.

Less than one percent of dispatchers in the state have reached retirement and several Summit County dispatchers are on the cusp.

However, the Summit County Sheriff’s Office is working with the county to make it easier by allowing workers to go from being part of the public employee system to the public safety retirement system. The move would make employees eligible for an earlier retirement date and more money.

For dispatchers, 30 years of service is required before retirement is granted. Anyone hired after July 1, 2011 is considered a tier two employee and only has access to retirement after 35 years. Public safety employees, such as law enforcement officials, though, are granted retirement after 20 years.

“What has happened is dispatchers have a really high turnover rate, not just here, but across the state,” said Brian Bellamy, Summit County’s Human Resource director. “Maybe this will help decrease turnover and help with recruitment.”

This year, the Utah State Legislature passed House Bill 115 to allow local entities and municipalities to decide whether to provide the option. State dispatch centers were mandated to implement it on July 1.

The Summit County Sheriff’s Office recently approached the County Council and asked its members to allocate an extra $100,000 a year toward public safety retirement for dispatchers. In 2014, the county contributed approximately $1.8 million and $1.3 million to the public employee and public safety retirement systems, respectively.

Bellamy said he understands the magnitude of the request and that funding would potentially have to be cut from somewhere else, but believes the benefits could outweigh the costs.

“When I came here 20 years ago we exported employees. We trained them and then someone else picked them up and that’s too expensive,” Bellamy said. “If this will help us retain them, it’s well worth the money. If it doesn’t, it’s something we have to look at. That’s the big question, will this really help us retain people? I think it is a good idea. We will put it through the budget process and see how it shakes out.”

Melanie Crittenden, Summit County public safety communications director, said she fears that if the county chooses not to implement the shift local dispatchers will join state agencies.

“Not all of our dispatchers live in Summit County. Some live in Salt Lake, Davis and Weber counties. If agencies are located closer to where they live and would be more beneficial to them to work there, what’s stopping them?” Crittenden said. “This benefits our dispatchers substantially and we’ve got several who were hired prior to 2011 and this would give them the option to retire at an earlier time if they needed to.”

Sheriff Justin Martinez appeared before the County Council with Crittenden to voice his support for the measure.

“They take the brunt of the beating from the public. On a daily basis they are taking phone calls where someone is saying, ‘My child can’t breathe or is choking,’ and these individuals are trying to get them to take life-saving measures, all while getting us there as quick as possible,” Martinez testified. “I understand the cost to the county. But my biggest fear is that because the state is being forced into this we are going to lose our dispatchers.”

The county has an opportunity to be one of the only ones in the state to implement the program, Martinez said.

Members of the Summit County Council appeared sympathetic to the request, but were hesitant to commit to the amount until the budget process moves further along.

The option will be presented as part of the Sheriff’s Office budget requests. Martinez and Crittenden said they are anxious to move forward and potentially implement it by Jan. 1.

Crittenden said she views the County Council’s response as fiscally responsible.

“They want to see the actual numbers and the overall budget to see where it fits in that and I greatly appreciate the County Council taking the time to present the information and I look forward to their direction and the outcome when the budget season comes to a close,” Crittenden said. “This would be highly beneficial to the dispatchers of Summit County.”