Some Kalifornia Residents Now Have To Pay For 911 Calls

[SATCOM]

Remember to hesitate BEFORE calling 911 if someone needs help....

http://cbs13.com/local/tracy.911.calls.2.1502690.html

TRACY, Calif. (CBS13)

Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency.

But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary.

Or, there's the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.

"A $300 fee and you don't even want to be thinking about that when somebody is in need of assistance," said Tracy resident Greg Bidlack.

Residents will soon receive the form in the mail where they'll be able to make their selection. No date has been set for when the charges will go into effect.

[okie6869]

And the lemmings continue allowing the government to herd them over the cliffs.

[KSM]

Wow, that's unsat... And will probably be going away soon, I'd imagine. There's got to be tons of uproar over this.

[KidA]

Why not just charge $300 for any non-emergency calls that result in a dispatch, as well as the cost for the dispatch?

Probably have enough money in the coffers after a year to build a fleet of emergency response vehicles with turbos and cappuccino machines onboard.

[SOTB]

Well, I'm pretty fucking cheap -- as RAT can verify. If I find some dude lying on the ground after getting hit by a truck (in Tracy CA), if he doesn't have a cellphone, I'll just tell him that as soon as I find a payphone, I'll pass the word along that he needs some assistance.

Of course, he can always give me $330 in cash (the $30 to cover my administrative fees), and I'll call him right from my phone. For another $20, I'll call his NOK, too.

I'm sure there are some people who think I'm being sarcastic. That's cool. Don't walk out in front of a truck in Tracy CA, and whine if I tell you my Blackberry is offlimits....

[Bravo Five Romeo]

That article was pretty damned sparse for information.

...and misleading as it turns out.

A little google-fu and I found a link to the local newspaper which goes into more detail.
Link here. (http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/6376328/article-Council-chooses-paramedic-fee-collector?instance=home_news_lead_story)

There is no fee for dialing 911 in Tracy California.
If you see someone have a heart attack and pull out your celphone and hit 911, there is no charge for you.
However, if fire rescue arrives to revive the victim or transport him, they would bill him a flat 300... the same way an ambulance company would bill him.

Fire rescue still doesn't bill for fires though.
I guess someone on the city council felt that if they were doing the same job as ambulance companies they should charge a similar fee.

[SOTB]

Well fuck me. I could have made a pretty decent living running around and causing accidents, and then renting out my cellphone....

[MoonDog]

Why not just charge $300 for any non-emergency calls that result in a dispatch, as well as the cost for the dispatch?

No shit, there I was.....

0245 we get a 911 call to a residence for "elderly man down."
Two fire trucks and crews, an ambulance with two paramedics and two police cars haul ass to the scene.....
We all jump out thinking about CPR type shit and we get this BEEEYATCH explaining that we need to take her eldrly father to the ER because he has diarreha and they don't want to take a chance of getting ther new Lincoln dirty or stinky.....:mad:

Let's not even discuss the welfare fucktards that think a paramedic rig is fucking taxi...:cool:

[JDAM]

Well fuck me. I could have made a pretty decent living running around and causing accidents, and then renting out my cellphone....

LMFAO

I have just the thing! :biggrin:

[MacDuff]

That article was pretty damned sparse for information.

...and misleading as it turns out.

A little google-fu and I found a link to the local newspaper which goes into more detail.
Link here. (http://www.tracypress.com/view/full_story/6376328/article-Council-chooses-paramedic-fee-collector?instance=home_news_lead_story)

There is no fee for dialing 911 in Tracy California.
If you see someone have a heart attack and pull out your celphone and hit 911, there is no charge for you.
However, if fire rescue arrives to revive the victim or transport him, they would bill him a flat 300... the same way an ambulance company would bill him.

Fire rescue still doesn't bill for fires though.
I guess someone on the city council felt that if they were doing the same job as ambulance companies they should charge a similar fee.


As much as we all complain about people misusing 911, it seems like a good idea. It would at least make people think twice before calling in with some non-emergency bullshit.

I wonder though about the people who legitimately could not afford it though...300$ would be quite a bit to someone on a fixed income.

[stanpunjabTrini]

Remember to hesitate BEFORE calling 911 if someone needs help....

http://cbs13.com/local/tracy.911.calls.2.1502690.html

TRACY, Calif. (CBS13)

Tracy residents will now have to pay every time they call 9-1-1 for a medical emergency.

But there are a couple of options. Residents can pay a $48 voluntary fee for the year which allows them to call 9-1-1 as many times as necessary.

Or, there's the option of not signing up for the annual fee. Instead, they will be charged $300 if they make a call for help.

"A $300 fee and you don't even want to be thinking about that when somebody is in need of assistance," said Tracy resident Greg Bidlack.

Residents will soon receive the form in the mail where they'll be able to make their selection. No date has been set for when the charges will go into effect.

This is the modus operandi of a demoratic capitalist society. If you want something, you pay! Is it a tax? nah mon! Just the cost of doing business.
It seems to be OK to give to corporate welfare but when it comes down to average citizens, they don't really matter so they/we have to pay up or die!
God Bless America!

[EchoFiveMike]

I'm all about passing the costs of the service on to people who use it!!

I don't use it, why should I pay to subsidize those who do?

As mentioned, the system is massively abused by idiots, most often idiots who don't pay taxes anyways.

Fucking Pookie, Ray-Ray and Cletus may reduce their bullshit calls when they get a bill for the service, and the muncipality puts a lein on their shitty trailer.

But knowing how this game works, they'll be all sorts of exemptions for the shitbags and only the people who don't typically abuse the system will be billed. S/F.....Ken M

[SN]

Wonder what tax revenues are used for in Tracy CA?

[dustyrebel]

There are those that don't even pay the ambulance service, or the er's, how are they going to make them pay for 911?

[BRC]

They did try a pay for 911 system in my city and it went down in flames. Along with being a terrible idea that nobody wanted, the system to track where and how a person called from sounded like a nightmare. It eventually led to its early and warranted death.

BRC