DALTON, Ga. — When someone calls 911, they expect to be able to reach an emergency dispatcher and have that person send a police car, ambulance or fire truck to help. So a fee — $1.50  each month on landlines and cellphones and 75 cents on prepaid phone cards — on phones goes to fund 911 centers in each county in the state.

Phone companies pay the fees on landlines and cellphones directly to counties each month.

But the state Department of Revenue collects the fees on phone cards and sends a check to each county once a year, and when Whitfield County got its check recently officials were shocked. They got just $155,354 — $50,553 less than the county received in 2016 and $75,246 less than they had been expecting based on growth trends.

In fact, every county in Georgia took a big hit. The Department of Revenue paid out $15 million in prepaid phone card fees this year, $4.8 million less than in 2016.

In a letter to the state Local Government 911 Authority, Department of Revenue Commissioner Lynne Riley wrote, “The reduction in the current year distribution is the result of a refund claim duly filed with the Department of Revenue. Following the review and validation of the refund claim, the Department issued the refund.”

Riley said paying the refund required a reduction in payments to local governments for 911. Riley says confidentiality laws forbid the release of any more information.

“Basically, they are saying ‘We took your money, and we can’t tell you why,’” said Claude Craig, director of the Whitfield County Emergency Management Agency.

Whitfield County Finance Director Alicia Vaughn said without more information she can’t say whether this is a one-time event or whether the impact on 911 fees will be permanent.

“Did someone overpay and get a refund? Or did somebody figure out a loophole and this is going to be permanent?” she said.

Vaughn said the county has faced similar issues with its Local Option Sales Tax (LOST).

In 2016, the Department of Revenue withheld $505,640 from the county’s September LOST revenues, 62 percent of the total revenue for the month, after a state audit found a local taxpayer overpaid sales tax at some point and the state took a portion of the money to refund that overpayment. The state refused to reveal which taxpayer overpaid.

And in 2013, the Department of Revenue withheld a total of almost $800,000 from two sales tax revenue checks in two different months to refund an overpayment to a county taxpayer.

Again, the department said it could not say who that taxpayer was.

The fees collected on phones and phone cards do not fully cover the budget of the 911 center, and Vaughn says this shortfall means the county will just have to dip further into general revenue to fund the 911 center. The 2017 911 center budget is $2.6 million and $550,048 of that will come from general revenue.

Craig said he is concerned about proposed legislation that might give the Department of Revenue responsibility for collecting all 911 fees — those for landlines and cellphones as well as prepaid phone cards. He says that could leave counties facing even greater financial uncertainties.

State Sen. Chuck Payne, R-Dalton, says he opposes that idea.

“If it isn’t broke, don’t fix it,” he said.