Fresno’s 911 Answer Times Improve After City Council Pay Raise, But State Standard Still Out of Reach
Fresno police answered just 63% of 911 calls within 15 seconds back in 2022. By 2025, that figure climbed above 75%. Police Chief Mindy Casto says roughly 85% of calls have been answered within 15 seconds so far in 2026 — the closest the department has come to California’s 90% standard.
The improvement follows a 14% average pay raise the Fresno City Council approved in 2023. Deputy Police Chief Burke Farrah told The Bee the raise has coincided with steady annual improvements in answer times.
Staffing remains a challenge. Fresno PD has 99 of 114 budgeted dispatch positions filled, with more recruits in training or background checks, according to Jaime Fahlsing, the department’s emergency service dispatch manager. The Fresno County Sheriff’s Office has 12 vacancies out of 49 budgeted dispatcher positions.
Matt Mendes, the sheriff’s office dispatcher supervisor, says pay is part of the problem. Entry-level county dispatchers earn a base salary of $53,300, ranging up to about $75,500 with rank and experience. He says dispatchers deserve better pay and retirement given the long hours, mandatory overtime, and difficult calls.
A new $16.9 million, bond-funded 911 communications center broke ground in July 2025 at El Dorado and G Street. The 12,000-square-foot facility is expected to open in early 2027, replacing the aging basement dispatch center at police headquarters.
Fresno PD’s dispatch center handles more than 1,000 emergency calls a day, averaging over 375,000 a year. The sheriff’s office, which covers unincorporated areas and seven cities including Kerman, Sanger, and Kingsburg, fields about 275 emergency calls a day.
The Breakdown
- California’s standard: 90% of 911 calls answered within 15 seconds
- Fresno police in 2022: 63% within 15 seconds
- Fresno police in 2025: above 75%
- Fresno police so far in 2026: roughly 85%
- City Council approved a 14% average pay raise for dispatchers in 2023
- New $16.9 million dispatch center, funded by bonds, breaks ground July 2025, opens early 2027
What This Means for You
When you call 911, the person answering that call works under conditions the City Council shapes — their pay, their workplace, how many colleagues they have to share the load. The Council approved a 14% pay raise for dispatchers in 2023, and answer times have improved each year since. The gap between 85% and the state’s 90% standard is still 1 in 20 emergency calls that don’t get answered fast enough.
What to Watch
The material frames this as steady progress, but here’s the tension: a 14% raise in 2023 brought answer times from 63% to 85% over three years, yet the department is still 15 dispatcher positions short and the county is down 12 out of 49.
One possibility: the raises help retain current staff but don’t address the toll of the job itself — the screams, the drowning calls, the mandatory overtime that wears people down until they leave anyway. Another: the base salary for county dispatchers still starts at $53,300.
The new dispatch center opening in 2027 is a real investment, but a nicer building doesn’t answer calls — people do.
Watch whether the answer-time gains plateau before reaching the state standard, and whether the staffing gaps persist even as the new facility opens. If they do, that’s a sign the problem isn’t just an aging basement or a one-time raise, but a deeper question about whether the public is willing to fund this work at the level it actually costs to do it right.
