Article

2010-04-08 Economy

Man Billed 'Crash Tax' For Emergency Response

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Posted by Fred 2010-04-08 00:00|| || Front Page|| [11134 views ] Top

#1 And what if someone called 911 to show up at the Chicago Mayor's house because they thought they heard screaming?

Posted by gorb 2010-04-08 01:39|| 2010-04-08 01:39|| Front Page Top

#2 But perhaps the first tax should be higher to match the actual cost of having the service.

Perhaps if we 'outsourced' the entire service maybe it'll have a lot less overhead. Companies bid on service like hotels bid on Priceline with an automated reroute on the line to the best offer by qualified carriers at the time of the call.

Posted by Procopius2k 2010-04-08 10:22|| 2010-04-08 10:22|| Front Page Top

#3 Me: "Okay, I won't pay a penny over 65 dollars for that ambulance run to take me to the hospital for my heart attack!"

Shatner: "Attaboy, Steve, now you're negotiating the Priceline way!"

Posted by Steve White 2010-04-08 11:21|| 2010-04-08 11:21|| Front Page Top

#4 That's what happened last month in South Carolina. A couple tried using a hose to put out their house fire in order to avoid being billed by the fire department.

I wonder if that's the whole story. When I lived in Savannah you had to pay a seperate fire dept fee. If a fire happened the fire dept responded and ensured the fire didn't spread from the non payer to those that had paid the fee.

Posted by Beavis 2010-04-08 11:31|| 2010-04-08 11:31|| Front Page Top

#5 P2K, that is how it used to be. People paid a subscription for the fire department to show up to your house. Cities saw that it would be for the public good to make it a municipal service - Chicago and London fires make great examples. Thing is, firefighter unions don't like volunteer services, so they would detest the concept of private fire service.

This all was predicted a few weeks ago when that city in CA was considering an emergency response charge. In the places this catches on, you will find the fire department showing up for every single call they can get a truck there - and can justify it by the diverse set of skills and tools fire departments offer. All they have to do is show up and check in before the incident is over, even if just minutes before the official conclusion of incident. You are going to just love it when detained 15 minutes longer than necessary for a fire truck to show up, take a look, give all clear, and travel off in their suburban mobile tool set vehicle to the next call.

Posted by swksvolFF 2010-04-08 11:44|| 2010-04-08 11:44|| Front Page Top

#6 Don't forget its common for a mayor or city council to first budget their own 'pet' project then give whatever is left to Police / Fire / Medical.

Then they go to the voters for a 'special levy' (because they don't have the budget....) for the services they should have budgeted first. Knowing that most people won't vote against essential services.

Posted by CrazyFool 2010-04-08 23:55|| 2010-04-08 23:55|| Front Page Top

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