Service fees are approved

Costa Mesa residents will soon have to pay extra fees above and beyond ambulance costs when they’re taken to a hospital after the fire department responds to a medical emergency, according to a resolution passed by the City Council on Tuesday night.

By charging residents an additional $275 to $460 for services the fire department paramedics provide, a fee nonresidents already pay, the city stands to make roughly $540,000 each year, fire department officials estimate.

Drivers determined to be at-fault in serious auto collisions will also be billed for the wear and tear on equipment used to rescue people and to clean up an accident scene, putting an extra $180,000 to $350,000 back into city coffers.

Most of the costs would be covered either by medical insurance companies or auto insurance companies, officials said, and exceptions will be made for low-income people.

The measures are two of three revenue-generating methods proposed by the department to save the city $1 million.

Along with more than $15 million in cuts, the extra revenue makes up a 10-point plan to help the city close a projected $19 million shortfall in next year’s budget.

Both proposals passed, 3 to 2, with Mayor Allan Mansoor, Councilman Gary Monahan and Councilwoman Katrina Foley voting in favor and Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece and Councilman Eric Bever voting against.

In opposing the plans, Bever and Leece echoed the concerns of several residents who said that they already pay taxes that should cover the fire departments costs.

“We all pay property taxes and when you need paramedic services the city provides them,” said Perry Valantine of Costa Mesa.

He and other speakers advocated raising hotel tax and business license fees instead, ideas that have been shot down many times before.

The proposals’ proponents on the council argued that the vast majority of the ideas that the city came up with to deal with the budget shortfall have to do with cutting employees’ pay and benefits, and laying off workers and it wouldn’t be a good idea to cut out the only part of the plan that would bring in a significant source of new revenue.

“We need to say that we’re raising some revenue because we’re cutting and cutting and cutting and cutting and if, when [the fire department] comes up with a simple idea to raise revenue, we slap them in the face then they’re not going to come to the table,” Monahan said.

Foley said that not passing the resolutions would be “subsidizing the insurance companies,” that would be billed for most of the fire department’s expenses.

Reporter ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.