$300 fee for calling 911

[Just Jim]

<broken link removed>

Your tax money goes to protect you but that just isn't enough. Now they are chargeing peopl,e for calling 911. It will be here soon enough.

jj

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[gunnoob75]

California!! WOO HOO!

 

[Gunner3456]

A tax by any other name...

So now, in Tracy Calif, if I see a car accident and someone is really hurt, I'll just not pull out my cell and make the $300 call? Neither will any other bystanders?

 

[PhysicsGuy]

So do you have to enter your credit card information while you or someone else is dying?

 

[22many]

WOW! and this is suppose to help lower crime how?

 

[Just Jim]

Tax H3ll is comming your way guys but even worse the stupidity of actions like this is normal government thinking. Glad I ain't a young man.

jj

 

[MountainBear]

All it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. Unfortunately, now it's going to cost you $300 to be a good man...

 

[Intoodeep]

I can't imagine this could be enforceable on a cell phone. How the **** could they collect maybe they will just block cell calls for fear of not being paid. What a bunch of BS, this smells of an attention getting stunt by a lame city government looking for a pity party.

 

[wakeadrian]

Would they be able to charge the phone it was called from? The same way 411 works?

 

[Intoodeep]

Would they be able to charge the phone it was called from? The same way 411 works?

If they received approval from the state PUC :winkkiss:.

 

[SheepDog223]

I can't imagine this could be enforceable on a cell phone. How the **** could they collect maybe they will just block cell calls for fear of not being paid. What a bunch of BS, this smells of an attention getting stunt by a lame city government looking for a pity party.

Its easy to imagine. In marion county, maybe Oregon they already put a 50 cent charge to your phone bill when you call. Just add $299.50 and you get $300.


What a bunch of garbage. Hope you don't need help when I'm driving by. Hope you don't break into my house either because I'm not calling 911. I'll call the non emergency number and leave a msg. "There is a dead guy on my front steps. Please come pick him up"

 

[golfnutrlv]

Ya, they have done that here in Spokane area for years. Very few people around here know it. It's a big "secret". I only know because an accounting professor I used to have in college helped design the billign system. The county charges you for the call fee, plus bills you for any ambulance/medic/chopper costs.

You get in a bad car wreck and manage to survive, you end up shellign out a lot to save your life. That's before the hospital costs...lol

 

[Intoodeep]

Everyone in Oregon is paying a 911 charge on each phone line including cells. The charge is set by the state PUC, I believe .75 per line.

 

[slingshot1943]

You talk about a california tax. What about local tax money? Today I saw a fire dept rescue vehicle and a huge fire truck at Albany Coastal farm store. When I went in I saw paramedics talking to a guy sitting in a chair, about something tingling. What on earth do they need the huge fire truck for and 5 or 6 firemen standing around? Looks like they send extra units so they can claim a larger budget is needed.

 

[Gunner3456]

I know nothing about cell phone bills or what they can do.

I do know that at least here 911 can ID you when you call. If they have a law which says you owe $300 they can at the least turn you over to a collection agency which will chase you for the money even across state lines and badly screw up your credit rating by reporting you as delinquent and as having been turned over for collection. They can also get a judgment and tap your wages or your bank account. I think most people will conclude that just paying the $300 is a better option than all of that.

I'd just pay it to avoid hassle, but I strongly believe that many people will fail to dial 911 due to this and that many lives will be lost, many structures will burn to the ground and that insurance rates will skyrocket as insurance companies recalculate their actuarials over time.

The first responsibility of government is to protect people - police, fire, military, etc. All other budget items are of lesser importance and perhaps even discretionary and that includes libraries and schools etc. How did we go so wrong in our beliefs about the role of government?

$.02

 

[wayoutwest]

You talk about a california tax. What about local tax money? Today I saw a fire dept rescue vehicle and a huge fire truck at Albany Coastal farm store. When I went in I saw paramedics talking to a guy sitting in a chair, about something tingling. What on earth do they need the huge fire truck for and 5 or 6 firemen standing around? Looks like they send extra units so they can claim a larger budget is needed.

Because in Salem the firemen are also medics and the engine is usually able to get to the scene faster than the medic unit, the guys will the get the patient ready to transport if needed and when the medics arrive the engine will clear.

 

[Atroxus]

Because in Salem the firemen are also medics and the engine is usually able to get to the scene faster than the medic unit, the guys will the get the patient ready to transport if needed and when the medics arrive the engine will clear.

I am not sure how an ambulance can't make it to a scene faster than a huge fire truck, unless teh firetruck just happens to be a lot closer. After all they have pretty much the same lights and sirens.

I agree that charging $300 to call 911 is ridiculous though. There are already 911 fees on phone service, and we already have taxes that should be paying for things like that. I am curious how much of that money is actually going to emergency services though, and how much is actually going to be used trying to fix California's budget woes. Personally I think some bean counter just got the bright idea that they could use it as a new stream of revenue.

Sadly I think it very well could result in crimes, and/or medical emergencies going unreported because people can't afford the $300 911 bill.

 

[Thunderblarg]

I'd really like to meet the person that initially thought that this was a good idea so I could ask them "WTF WERE YOU THINKING? SERIOUSLY, HOW COULD THIS POSSIBLY BE A GOOD IDEA?"

 

[RVTECH]

I'd really like to meet the person that initially thought that this was a good idea

Probably Arnold Kennedy - He recently raised the CA vehicle registration fees and made a fool of himself yukking it up with Ted Tax&gougeme during the signing of the agreement to tear down the dams on the Klamath Basin to restore the Klamath river to better support the sucker fish. If I ever hear "I'll be back" and "Hasta La Vista" again I think I will scream.

 

[swoop]

The only people that should be paying $300 for a 911 call are the idiots that use it when they get the wrong order at a fast food joint.