BANGOR – A proposed $50 million statewide public safety radio system should not come at the expense of communications improvements already under way locally, local and county officials said Tuesday.

“A lot of great strides have been made in the last 21/2 years,” Bob Higgins, director of the Somerset County Emergency Management Agency, said, telling a gathering of public safety and emergency management officials that they “still need to fix things.”

Higgins and others meeting in Bangor at a local events center said they were concerned that the statewide project to install a VHF narrow-band communications system, a project still in its infancy, would divert attention – and more importantly, funds – for much-needed projects to improve communications at the local, county or regional level.

Spots remain in Somerset County where radio communications can’t reach, Higgins said. Three weeks ago, a tanker truck hauling hazardous materials overturned in an area Higgins calls “death valley” in the Jackman area, and he had to travel nine miles from the scene in order to be able to communicate with the hospital and Department of Environmental Protection officials, the county official said after the meeting.

In Waldo County, development of a new microwave communications system is in the works but still needs about $140,000 to be completed, said Owen Smith, communications director for the Waldo County Regional Communications Center. He said he’s worried that future federal funding will be diverted away from this program, stalling it and the improved communications it would bring.

Adding to their concerns and frustrations is that the flow of federal funding already has started to slow. Federal money for homeland security and law enforcement anti-terrorism is expected to drop by one-third from 2004 funding, going from about $22 million to about $15 million.

State officials said they intend to include local and county officials in development of the new backbone system, which they said is imperative in light of the aging system. Built in the early 1970s, the current radio system was intended to have a 15-year shelf life and is now “on its last leg,” said Lt. Ray Bessette, who is in charge of special projects for the Maine Department of Public Safety.

Some parts for the system no longer are made and have to be made by cannibalizing other systems or cobbled together.

State officials said the new system, pared down from an initial consultant’s estimate of $200 million, would improve communications substantially, including in some existing dead spots, while making more efficient use of bandwidth and meeting requirements of the Federal Communications Commission.

Funding is intended to come through a mixture of state bonds and federal dollars. State officials said they also intend at least to look at public-private partnerships, pairing up with companies with equipment, such as towers, already in place or planned to be built.

Bessette said the state already is doing this, noting that the Maine Department of Public Safety operates statewide, yet owns only two towers.

Despite the need, such a system may be a tough sell in the Legislature against a backdrop of debates over tax reform, budget gaps and other bond referendums, acknowledged Dick Thompson, the state’s chief information officer.

He insisted, however, that the existing system is in serious need of upgrading.

“We’re running out of time,” Thompson said after Tuesday’s meeting.