If you're in an emergency situation your first move should be to call emergency responders, but that all depends on whether your municipality remembered to pay the bills.

At city council's last meeting, a housekeeping order was carried out. A small but significant payment was made to ensure the residents of Swift Current can contact emergency responders.

A payment of $20,755 was made to buy into a 911 dispatching centre located in Prince Albert. This is a yearly payment for the City of Swift Current.

Tim Marcus, Swift Current's Chief Administrative Officer, said that this payment is calculated based upon the population of municipalities who pay into it.

"Everybody would have to run a dispatch centre, except there is a provincial dispatch centre run on a non-profit basis."

Marcus said that prior to Swift Current buying into the service, Swift Current had its own dispatching service around 18 years ago.

"There used to be 911 centres in various areas of the province, including one here in Swift Current, and it just didn't make sense from the dispatch side. It made more sense to have them all in one place which is what they do now."

Speaking on the reason for the shift away, Marcus said that the technical side of things began to require more technology to handle.

"The number of calls have been going up every year, and so the centre has expanded a bit and had to invest in new technology."

Marcus said that the Prince Albert-based service dispatches to over 400 fire departments, police detachments, and ambulance services.