By Lauren Stanforth
The Times-Union
SCHENECTADY, N.Y. — City residents should be certain they need help when calling 911, because the city might soon charge people if they’re dialing for frivolous reasons.
Fire Chief Michael Della Rocco presented a proposal at City Council’s committee meeting Monday night that would require a fee to be billed to people who summon fire department paramedics to a scene when there appears to be no good reason to do so.
Rocco suggested a $55 fee, but Acting Mayor Gary McCarthy said the council would have to decide if the first call would be free, and then have a sliding fee scale for what he called “frequent flyers,” those who repeatedly call 911. The idea was mentioned during recent budget discussions as a way to defer the increasing cost of providing medical services.
The fire chief gave examples of system abuses, like one woman who recently pulled a fire alarm because her husband had a bad toothache for four days. He said some city residents are known to call a dozen times, and then are discharged from the hospital shortly after their arrivals. Della Rocco was also not kind to Union College students, who he said can be verbally abusive to responders and then refuse medical treatment.
Della Rocco said advanced life support calls would not be assessed the fee. Medical costs associated with those calls are already billed to a person’s insurance.
Such a fee is rare in New York state, Della Rocco said, but does exist in other parts of the country. New York City, for example, has such a system.
Schenectady actually instituted a similar 911 fee in 1999, but took it away less than a year later after some citizens started a letter-writing campaign against it. McCarthy said the city has estimated it would make $10,000 off the fee system, but he said that estimate is low.
“The concept has merit, but the devil is in the details,” said City Council member Carl Erikson, referring to how to determine what would be considered legitimate and not legitimate emergency calls.
Council members will discuss the matter in two weeks after the city’s law department finalizes the details. After that, a public hearing would be held before the fee structure is formally adopted.
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