California Town to Charge for 911 Calls
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As cities across the state of California suffer through soaring deficits and a state government offering little help, the City Council for Tracy, Calif. OK’d a contract this week with an Oakland-based company that will bill residents each time the city’s fire department responds to a non-fire call.
Back in June 2009, the city approved a plan to start charging residents for 911 calls and emergency services rendered. According to the Tracy Press:
Residents will pay $300 for every fire department response to a medical emergency. Non-residents can expect to pay $400. There is no set cost for a fire department visit to a car accident.
The city is working out an option so that households can pay an annual membership fee of $48, which would cover the cost of any emergency aid given during the course of a year, said David Bramell, who is acting as fire chief while Chief Chris Bosch is on administrative leave.
The Oakland company, ADPI-Intermedix, will receive about 15 percent of all of the city fees.
The City of Tracy Web site currently warns residents: “For emergencies please call 911″ – perhaps it should be updated to include a disclaimer about the bill they might rack up in the process. One City Council member told the Tracy Press that a constituent jokingly told her that if her husband were to have a heart attack, she’d be tempted to set the kitchen table on fire before calling for help.
Joking aside, though, this is the kind of unpopular decision that more California cities are likely going to have to make in order to keep their municipalities running. Late last month, for example, the Los Angeles Downtown News predicted that in order to close a looming $400 million budget shortfall, “the perennially untouchable realm of public safety can no longer be spared. Otherwise, the city may be headed toward bankruptcy.” Until the state’s legislators get their acts together and help close gaping budget deficits, residents are only going to face paying more and getting less.
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i think it’s a really dumb idea. for one – you have no choice who is sent to you an emergency. and what if i saw something happen to some stranger on the street? i call it in. do i have to pay $400 – do they? what if they didn’t want help to begin with. i can see this ending in disaster, so many calls never made, bomb scares never called in, suspicious packages never mentioned, a burning building will just burn. all because they are afraid of being charged something that no one should have to pay for.
on the other hand, they should charge for the stupid calls like cat’s in trees, the local weather, or confusing it with a 411 call. and of course any false calls.
[...] California Town to Charge for 911 Calls [...]
[...] the debt problem looms too ominously to be ignored, the proposed “solutions” — like charging residents for 911 calls — are designed to scare people away from proposed budget cuts. Looking at the California [...]