GALLIPOLIS — It’s the middle of the night and you wake up in a cold sweat, your heart is pounding, you’re struggling to breathe. Intense pain spreads to your shoulders, neck and arms. Who are you going to call?

If voters do not get to the polls this November to renew the one-quarter percent on Gallia County’s sales tax that supports 911, then your call won’t be to the Gallia County 911 Center, which receives nearly 100 percent of its funding through this means.

911 Director Steve Wilson attended Thursday’s regular Gallia County Commissioners meeting for the first public hearing on this issue.

Every five years, the one-quarter percent has to be renewed at the polls, which voters have done three times since 1994 at a ratio of approximately 60/40.

The one-quarter percent is for a single use, to fund 9-1-1. If passed, it will not affect your property tax or income tax, and the sales tax will not increase either. Residents will continue to pay the 6.25 percent sales tax that they have since 1995.

Basically, passage means that for every dollar spent in the Gallia County, 9-1-1 receives one-fourth of a cent in sales tax that in turn funds 11 full-time dispatchers and six part-time dispatchers, providing a much-needed service, 24 hours a day, seven days a week, 365 days a year.

In addition to Gallia County EMS, the center provides dispatch for the Gallia County Sheriff’s Office, the Gallipolis Police Department, all village and township fire departments, and the Gallia County Animal Shelter.

Wilson said the center does not receive any money from the county general fund and aside from a small amount of wireless funding, the day-to-day operation of the 9-1-1 facility is dependent upon this quarter percent on the sales tax.

The main thing Wilson wants to get across to residents is that it is a continuation of the existing tax already funding 9-1-1; it is not a new tax.

“I think it is imperative that we pass this renewal and we appreciate the service your agency provides for the citizens of Gallia County,” Commissioners Vice President Joe Foster told Wilson during the hearing.

The second public hearing on this issue is scheduled during next week’s county commission meeting, Thursday, Aug. 13 at 11 a.m., at which time a resolution will likely be passed to add it to the ballot.