A new opinion from the Ohio Attorney General has added another piece to the 911 consolidation puzzle in Ohio.

Beginning January 1st, the state mandated a reduction in the number of 911 Public Safety Answering Points or P-SAPS.

For Columbiana County it meant going from five to four P-SAPS. 

"The Columbiana Police Department is no longer taking cell phone calls, they are receiving land line calls, but no cell phone," said Columbiana County Commissioner Tim Weigle.

Counties that failed to comply would have lost 50% of their state 911 funding, or about $100,000 for Columbiana County.  But the new opinion from the Ohio Attorney General contradicts the forced reduction of P-SAPS.

"The Attorney General's opinion says you can have P-SAPS answer the calls, you just can't spend cell phone fees on that P-SAP, so we're  a little confused," said Weigle.

Columbiana County 911 Director Peggy Clark says meeting the deadline was a lot of work that could now be undone.

"I will then have to go back to each of our phone carriers and request that they basically reverse all the changes that were made in order to be in compliance with the deadline,” Clark said.

County 911 directors say a meeting this week by the 911 state steering committee in Columbus will hopefully provide some new clarification.

"We're not going to reverse our changes until we get clarification from the state, said Mahoning County 911 Director Maggie McGee.

McGee says Mahoning County had already advanced to a virtual 911 system before the state issued its mandate.

"They need to realize that these mandates also set us back, and this really set us back," said McGee.

Clark and McGee say they will be closely monitoring a conference call by the 911 state committee on Thursday.