Emergency fees appealed

Costa Mesa City Councilman Eric Bever has appealed the decision to charge residents extra fees for emergency medical services.

The City Council decided to start charging residents $275 to $460 on top of normal ambulance costs when the Fire Department’s paramedics respond to a medical emergency and the patient is taken to a hospital.

The proposal was one of three suggestions by the Fire Department to earn an estimated $1 million per year to help balance next year’s city budget. The city hopes to erase most of the rest of its projected $19-million shortfall by laying off employees (mostly from the police and fire departments), cutting employee salaries and benefits and drawing money from reserves.

Bever and Mayor Pro Tem Wendy Leece voted against the new Fire Department fees, which passed last week, 3 to 2, saying that existing tax revenues already cover those services and the new fees were essentially tax increases in disguise.

“I am disappointed that the City Council is apparently willing to balance the budget on the backs of those who have the misfortune of requiring paramedic services, and I hope that the citizens take this opportunity to let the council know exactly how they feel about being charged for services their taxes have already paid for,” Bever said in an e-mail.

Those who voted for the fees — Mayor Allan Mansoor, and Council members Gary Monahan and Katrina Foley — argued the fee revenue is small compared with the more than $15 million in concessions the city is asking its unions to accept.

“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.

Staff also said that most of the new fees would be passed on to medical and auto insurance companies. Foley said that not passing them would be equivalent to subsidizing insurance companies.

The item is scheduled to be reconsidered June 2.