The surcharge will be $3 for cell phones, and landlines, and be on residents’ phone bills as they are currently.

It is expected the surcharge will generate between $800,000 and $1 million a year, and cover most of the expenses for 911 operations.

When the votes were tallied, there were 2,886 residents who voted to extend the fee, while 692 voted against it.

Mark Hall, Alpena County emergency services coordinator and 911 director, said the money raised from the surcharge helps to staff 911, upgrade technology, training, and building maintenance. He said he is grateful to the people in the county for continuing the emergency service, which is critical in saving lives.

News Photo by Steve Schulwitz Alpena election employee Mary Jo Beck checks the identification of a voter while working the election on Tuesday. The only item on the ballot was a renewal of the Alpena County 911 surcharge, which passed easily.

“We’re happy the voters support the 911 center the way they do, and we look forward to serving the community into the future,” Hall said.

A large turnout wasn’t expected and voters in fact did stay home for the most part.

Alpena County Clerk Bonnie Friedrichs said unless there is a proposal that has created great public interest on the ballot, or hotly contested government races, turnout is typically not high for special elections with little to vote on.

In all, only 3,587 of the county’s 24,897 registered voters cast ballots, which equates to 14.41% of the county’s overall electorate.

For the election workers in Alpena and the townships, things seemed to go smoothly, Friedrichs said. She said there were few issues and things went smoothly.

File photo

“It was quiet and quiet is good,” she said. “As far as I know everything went well. At least I haven’t heard of any issues.”

The vote totals from Tuesday are only preliminary and need to be certified by the county’s board of canvassers who will review and sign off on the election results at 9.a.m. Wednesday.