On Monday, the East Contra Costa Fire Protection District will be holding a Public Hearing on a proposed Schedule Fee for Service for the cost recovery of emergency first-responder costs.
The District has worked to establish a “First Responder Fee” through its finance committee at a cost of $337.61 per call. This fee does not differentiate between a resident or non-resident.
According to the District, they are citing the Fire Protection District Law of 1987, if a district finds it does not have adequate revenue available to provide the services that it is empowered to provide including: 1) fire protection services, 2) rescue services, 3) emergency medical services, 4) hazardous material emergency response services, 5) ambulance services, or 6) any other services relating to the protection of lives and property, it may raise additional revenue pursuant to several alternative methods.
The law states that the District can charge a fee to recover the cost for any service it provides, such as emergency medical response services in cases of illness or injury.
However, according to the December 28, 2015 Staff Report, the First Responder Fee is not going to cost recovery, but going to pay for a recently approved EMT Differential Pay. This is a 5% pay increase to firefighters who possess and maintain the criteria for enhanced Emergency Medical Technicians. The EMT Differential pay raise was included in the recent contract negotiations which granted East Contra Costa firefighters a 5% pay raise.
Combined, some East Contra Costa firefighters received a 10% pay increase which was approved in January along with a 10% salary differential between job classifications.
Those within the community have argued that this fee is not going to cost recovery, but instead to pay for pay raises as stated in the Staff Report.
Although Chief Hugh Henderson stated in December that the First Responder fee would be charged to everyone, there is now a caveat that they can now waive the fee in some cases.
Within the Ordinance, it allows for the fire chief to “waive” the fee when it is not in the best interest of the district to do so—no examples were provided in the staff report. The proposed resolution would charge the Fire Chief, or his designee, with developing procedures for receiving and processing requests for waivers and appeals of the fees.
In addition, the proposed resolution directs the Fire Chief to develop recommendations on other types of waivers the District may choose to grant in the future, such as for hardship, for consideration by the Finance Committee.
If approved, the fees would begin in March. It’s been estimated that the fee will bring the District about $600,000 annually in new revenue.
If You Go
East Contra Costa Fire Protection District Board of Directors Meeting
February 1, 2016 at 6:30 pm
3231 Main Street, Oakley
7 comments
Thank you ECT for not being a HOMER for firefighters and showcasing just exactly what is going on here. This is for pay raises, not cost recovery. Shame on this fire district for selling out to the unions. No support from me when they come asking for another tax.
I already pay taxes for this service, you want to charge me, I will see you in court.
This fire board and union still do not understand that the public will not support them when they keep trying to squeeze every penny from us. Shame on them.
So, let me see if I understand this. They are going to charge you to respond for a call for service? Do the citizens get a refund when they get subpar service? Are they going to charge those senior citizen homes, which generate a large number of medical calls? Can you refuse service when they show up? This is a nightmare on the horizon. Time to fold up shop and be taken over by Confire.
The real fix is for the district and county legislators and politicians fix the problem they created back in the 70’s when Proposition 13 passed. East Contra Costa County was very rural back then and apparently no one gave it a second thought, like maybe the population might change and more Emergency Services may be needed in the future, so they cast in stone the distribution of our tax monies to different needs. “There’s too much red tape to fix the problem,” is their excuse for not wanting to fix it. This is their job!!! Change the distribution of our taxes commensurate to other districts in the county. We pay the same taxes as they, but since western Contra Costa County districts were already quite populated in the 70’s, they distributed the tax revenue to meet their Emergency Services needs. It is time for a Do-Over!!!
Jerry, I agree. Who cares how difficult it is to fix. This is why the legislators and local politicians get paid. Do the will of the people and quit complaining. We pay the same taxes as everyone. We expect the same services provided by our neighbor con fire period. Even more pathetic is the county is supposedly improving our ambulance and paramedic service by removing the QRVs. So if the county has improved paramedic services what is the need for an EMT fee? All this does not pass the smell test. Redistribution is the solution.
So Confire contracts with AMR. Confire becomes designated as a Transporting Agency and thus qualifies for Fed money. More money for Confire. But in all that, East Contra Costa residents lost their no cost to residents, Quick Response Vehicles /Paramedics (QRV’s). Now we get to pay $337. and some odd cent, for EMT’s on the Fire Engines that also get called to Fires, sometimes out of East County. We can thank, Board of Supervisors, ConFire, AMR etc. Wonderful, now we get lower service AND have to pay for it when used, And in our tax bill.
Mankind: the only animal to capitalize on any and all facets of life.
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