Cities may charge fees on emergency services

What if it cost you $1,000 to have a kitchen fire extinguished? Or $500 for emergency response to an auto accident?

The Coon Rapids City Council is considering charging people for the use of the city's emergency services.

In difficult times, user-fee systems could become the norm for cities trying to maintain services and keep property taxes low despite stretched budgets and tough economic times, said Gary Carlson, intergovernmental relations director for the League of Minnesota Cities.

"Cities are becoming more sophisticated and looking for ways they can assess the cost more directly from those who use or benefit from a service," he said. "It's the basic philosophy of taxation versus user fees. I would venture to guess over the last 10 to 20 years more governments are looking to the opportunities where, if you can avoid generally levying a tax and apply the cost to the user or beneficiary, that is a route to take."

In Coon Rapids, the fee proposal was sent back to staff for more work. City Manager Matt Fulton and Mayor Tim Howe both said the idea is not off the table, although the council is leery.

"That's what people pay their taxes for," said Howe, whose city is reeling from more than a million dollars in lost state aid and unreimbursed funds. "As a council, we need to examine those types of things because we are being hit with these LGA [Local Government Aid] cuts continuously and are pretty much down to nothing received from the state."

Cities won't know until the end of the legislative session how much they will lose in state aid and unrefunded tax credits. Add in plummeting property values, a state-imposed levy cap, rising property tax delinquencies and lackluster development, and it's easy to see why cities are looking for creative ways to pay the bills.

Levying fees for emergency services is not unheard-of. Blaine charges fees for traffic accidents that require paramedic aid, extrication or extensive cleanup, and East Bethel just adopted a similar policy in February.

Since 2004, Fridley has billed for a range of services, including auto accident extrication, medical care, accident site cleanup, extinguishing of negligent fires, ice and water rescues, and more.

Last summer, Duluth memorably scheduled a discussion of a fee for nonresidents involved in auto accidents, but the conversation was sidelined by a blogosphere battle that became a "Tonight Show" gag. The hoopla contaminated the issue, said Duluth Mayor Don Ness.

"Its been characterized in such a way that a reasoned discussion is impossible," Ness said. "It's not worth our time to try to overcome that dynamic, and we've focused on our other strategies."

The idea has come up in brainstorming sessions in Austin and Lakeville. In recent months, it was discussed and dismissed in Bemidji, and in Ramsey, where it was sunk by council concerns that a fee would cause folks to hesitate to call 911.

In Fridley, however, Fire Chief John Berg said much of the potential profit is eaten up by administration hassles.

"It is not a revenue-maker," he said.

In both cities, they say, a chunk of the fees are collected from nonresidents, who are not paying to support the departments.

"It's our obligation to capture some of the cost supported by our taxpayers," Zikmund said.