Response could come at a cost

Alicia Robinson

If you think you need to call the paramedics, you might want to have

your checkbook handy.

Residents who need emergency medical services in Costa Mesa could

be asked to pay a minimal amount for them once a year or a much

higher flat fee each time they use the services.

The Costa Mesa City Council will decide tonight whether to

establish an emergency medical service subscription fee to help

prevent future budget shortfalls. The subscription fee was one of

four revenue-generating ideas floated to the council in 2004 to

offset the city’s problem of spending more than it takes in.

Another of the suggestions, a sanitation franchise fee charged to

waste haulers, was approved by the council in November. Council

members initially couldn’t agree on the other two ideas -- a business

license tax and an increase in the transient occupancy tax, better

known as the hotel bed tax -- but the council could consider them in

the future.

The proposed emergency medical service subscription fee would be a

voluntary charge of $36 a year per household, which would cover any

emergency medical service calls. Nonresidents and people who choose

not to subscribe would get a bill for $300 each time they use Costa

Mesa’s emergency medical services.

The city already charges those who don’t live in Costa Mesa fees

of $185 or $295 for using the city’s emergency medical services.

Those fee amounts depend upon the extent of services required, but

they would disappear if the new $300 fee is approved.

Every other city in Orange County has some sort of medical

subscription program, and the taxes residents pay toward emergency

medical services don’t cover the cost of providing them, Costa Mesa

Fire Chief Jim Ellis said.

Most cities collect about 40% to 60% of the amount they bill to

nonsubscribers, and that amount still wouldn’t cover all emergency

medical costs to the city, he said. But the program could generate

between $200,000 and $500,000 more for the city’s general fund each

year, and that would be a big help, Ellis said.

“It’s pretty much an insurance policy, if you think about it,” he

said. “The bottom line is it helps offset the cost of the service.”

While some council members and residents have opposed going after

more revenue before finding ways to trim the city budget, Mayor Allan

Mansoor said he likes the emergency medical subscription fee because

subscribing is voluntary, and the $300 charge is for users of the

service rather than a tax hike on all city residents.

A few questions remain, however, such as how the city would

recover fees from people who don’t subscribe. While emergency medical

service subscription fees have been successful elsewhere in the

county, Ellis said he’s not sure how Costa Mesa residents will

receive the idea.

“We really haven’t had a ... reaction yet, because this will be

the first time it’s presented to the community,” he said.

* ALICIA ROBINSON covers government and politics. She may be

reached at (714) 966-4626 or by e-mail at alicia.robinson

@latimes.com.