Butler County has filed a $10.9 million lawsuit against 15 telephone providers for not billing and collecting 911 assessment charges.

The lawsuit, filed Wednesday in county court, seeks to recover six years of funds. The charges are added to phone bills to help pay for the county’s 911 operations.

This lack of funds has impacted county finances, county officials said, since the county has had to pay extra money to maintain the 911 system.

Commissioner Leslie Osche, board chairman, said the suit is necessary since state law says it is the responsibility of the providers to bill and remit those fees to the county.

“We believe, based on the evidence we have received, that responsibility has not been met,” Osche said in a statement.

Data obtained by the county suggests that up to 15 telephone companies may have misrepresented the types and number of phone lines the 911 assessments are applied to, causing “significant” underbilling. The suit said the misrepresentation results in a lot less funding for the 911 system.

The county spent $3.1 million in 2014 to support the system, with $1.7 million coming from 911 fees and $1.4 million coming from tax money.

“Butler County and its taxpayers should not have to subsidize this gap. This is a tax burden on all of our residents and especially impacts our seniors and lower income residents,” said Commissioner Kim Geyer in a statement.

County Controller Ben Holland said that the gap, since it was filled with local revenue from property tax, played a role in the budget hole facing county officials.

“It can’t be blamed for all of it, but it can certainly be blamed for some of it,” Holland said.

Commissioner Kevin Boozel said the suit is needed.

“It is necessary to continue to fund our vital and life-saving 911 system,” Boozel said.

A lack of public audit authorization under state law, as well as confidentiality provisions, let phone companies keep underbilling from being noticed, according to a released statement.

“Based on the data we have received so far and the absence of audit authority under the law, we are taking legal action to obtain additional information necessary to review their collection procedures and to recover what we believe is due to our taxpayers,” Osche said.

County solicitor Mike English said the suit was filed after he became aware of the issue through officials from other counties, and through the statewide county commissioners organization CCAP. English said he contacted the Philadelphia firm of Dilworth Paxon after he learned it represents other Pennsylvania counties on the same issue.

Dilworth Paxson is helped by Phone Recovery Services with data analysis. Both of the firms are working on a contingent fee basis, and if the suit is not successful, the county will not owe either firm any money.

Timothy Carson with Dilworth Paxson said that several other counties in the state have sued. The first county to do so was Delaware County.

Carson said suits also are being filed in more than a dozen other states.

“It’s not just a Pennsylvania issue. It’s a national issue,” Carson said.

English said that it’s not certain if the county will prevail in the suit, which has been successful in other states but has yet to be decided in Pennsylvania. He said people should not expect a quick resolution.

“We don’t expect them (the phone companies) to simply concede the point,” English said. “But we wouldn’t be going down this road if we didn’t think there would be a reasonable likelihood of a recovery.”

The defendants named in the county’s lawsuit are: CenturyLink Communications, The United Telephone Company of Pennsylvania, Consolidated Communications of Pennsylvania Company, Consolidated Communications Enterprise Services, Core Communications, Intermedia Communications of Florida, Verizon Pennsylvania, Level 3 Communications, Telcove of Eastern Pennsylvania, AT&T, Teleport Communications America, US LEC of Pennsylvania, Bandwidth.com CLEC, Comcast Phone of Pennsylvania, and Peerless Network of Pennsylvania.