Proposed EMS program DOA

Geoff West

During another marathon City Council meeting April 19, the

much-debated Emergency Medical Subscription program went down in

flames.

I’m hard-pressed to understand the decision, but it sure seemed to

me that the council may have been overwhelmed by yet another packed

agenda.

The discussion of this issue took less than a half hour after it

took the council more than two hours to just get through the Consent

Calendar.

Although Fire Chief Jim Ellis and Finance Director Marc Puckett

and their respective staffs spent countless hours researching and

constructing a plan that would work for this city -- one of the very

few in the county with no such program -- a majority on the council

apparently didn’t feel it was a good idea for this city at this time.

It seemed that the council somehow managed to lose sight of the

fact that this proposal was in response to a request by members of

the previous council, including Mayor Allan Mansoor, to come up with

additional sources of funding for our city in these cash-strapped

times.

They seemed to have gotten lost in a maze of details, all of which

had been researched and answered by the staff after a shaky beginning

a few months ago. Regardless, the three council members who voted

against this proposal, Katrina Foley, Eric Bever and Mansoor, each

expressed different reasons for their decisions.

The issue seemed simple enough. We need more money to provide the

services residents expect.

The EMS program looked like one of a few good choices available to

the council, and it didn’t require a vote of the people, only the

clear-headed consideration of the council.

Most other cities in the county already have something similar.

The plan called for a voluntary annual fee of $36 to be paid for each

residence in the city. Reduced fees were being considered for

hardship cases and a different fee structure was anticipated for

businesses. Each residence covered would receive no further charges

for the Emergency Medical Service for any resident or guest.

Those choosing not to be covered would be charged a fee of just

over $300 each time emergency medical service was required.

Presently, no resident is charged for such services, the cost comes

out of the General Fund. Current charges for city-contracted

ambulance services would remain the same.

Foley apparently felt this was too great a burden for the

residents of this city and that we already paid for this with our tax

dollars.

Bever got mired in the issue of the perceived unfairness of

charging the same fee for a residence with a single occupant and one

with multiple occupants and couldn’t seem to spit that hook out.

Mansoor apparently just didn’t like it from the beginning.

It’s hard for me to imagine the frustration and disappointment

that the members of the city staff must be feeling now. They were

given marching orders, which they carried out over a period of many

months, through several meetings and presentations.

The result of their efforts looked like a fair, reasonable plan.

This is an issue that lost its champion when Mike Scheafer failed in

his bid for election to the council and no one else picked up the

baton.

I must say that I was embarrassed for Mansoor as he apologized to

the hard-working staff when it became clear the plan would be

defeated. In the parlance of the emergency teams, this plan never had

a chance. It was DOA.

It looks like the scalawags in Sacramento, led by our bulked-up

bandit of a governor, will continue to raid our coffers in an attempt

to balance the state budget. So, it’s back to the old drawing board

in search for more dollars for this city.

If the council is unwilling to consider more fees charged to

residents, let’s just slip our hands into the pockets of visitors and

pluck out a few more dollars as they pass through town.

My recommendation is that the City Council actively pursue the

placement of an increase in the Transient Occupancy Tax on the next

possible ballot.

It’s a tax that impacts very few Costa Mesa residents, and our

current tax is equal to the lowest in the county. During preliminary

discussions about it last year it was estimated that a modest

increase would generate roughly five times the revenue that the EMS

Program would have done.

If we need more revenue, it’s time to revisit the Transit

Occupancy Tax.

* GEOFF WEST is a Costa Mesa resident and a frequent contributor

to Forum.