‘Crash fee’ part 1: Idea not new in Colorado
By Tillie Fong 
| September 22, 2009 | 7:01 AM
The idea of fire departments charging a “crash fee” for responding to vehicle accidents on state highways isn’t new in Colorado.
“We’ve been doing this for more than 20 years,” said Dave Baldwin, emergency medical service chief for North Washington Fire Protection District, which covers 15 square miles between Thornton and Denver.
“We know it’s rough on citizens to see us (charge) these costs, but we’re a nonprofit and we’re trying to make ends meet so we can provide them with good emergency service. It’s not to make money to have cash in (our) pocket. It’s so (we) don’t have to cut services to the public.”
Three other fire protection districts in Colorado charge similar fees: South Adams, Foothills and Mountainview (formerly known as Longmont Rural), Now, it seems that the Denver Fire Department may follow their example.
The 2010 budget released by Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper last Tuesday proposed several fees and fee increases designed to help make up an expected $120 million shortfall next year.
Among them was a $600 fee that the fire department would charge for providing medical treatment for accidents on state highways. Only nonresident drivers who were found to be at fault would be charged, and the fee would be expected to generate more than $1 million a year.
Denver Fire Department officials cited North Washington as an example of how firefighters could charge fees for their services. There are key differences, however, in the way North Washington assesses the crash fee and how Denver plans to impose it.
North Washington Fire Protection District
North Washington was formed in 1946 as a volunteer fire service. In 1964, the district switched to paid staff. It has 60 employees: 55 firefighters and five nonemergency personnel operating out of four fire stations. Eighteen of the firefighters are also paramedics.
The district’s revenues come mainly from property taxes, although residents in 2002 approved a $5 million bond measure for capital improvements. This year, the operating budget was $4,940,000. Crash fees generate about $3,000 a month, or roughly $36,000 a year.
“It’s not a huge amount of money, but we use that to cover costs, whether it’s for training or repairing equipment,” Baldwin said. “It keeps us in business.”
Part of the reason the district imposed the fee is because North Washington fire crews were responding to accidents on state highways several times a day. Four major highways — Interstate 76, Interstate 25, Interstate 270 and US 36 — run through the middle of the district.
“There would be no compensation while they were sitting on the highway, no compensation for using Jaws of Life for extrication,” Baldwin said. “They would be running with a private ambulance and recouping no money for all the accidents that they run to.”
The private ambulance company does charge patients for its services.
“We had a lot of transient vehicles passing through our district,” Baldwin said. “All of these services are provided through the taxes that our citizens pay. We decided to put the responsibility on the people who are utilizing these services on the highway.”
In about 1986, the district started assessing a flat “rescue fee” when fire personnel responded to accidents on state highways and major thoroughfares. It wasn’t clear how much the initial fee was, but Baldwin said that in 2003, it was $175. A year later, it was raised to the current $200 rate. The fee is charged to every driver whose vehicle is still on the road after an accident.
“The rescue bill is for trucks and crews who have to sit on the highway and provide aid to people involved in accidents,” Baldwin said. “Even if they’re not injured, if we’re blocking the highway until the vehicle is towed, it’s for the vehicles that we’re blocking the traffic.”
For example, say there is a five-car accident on I-25. However, two of the five vehicles have pulled off a ramp and do not need fire crews to block off traffic to deal with them, so the drivers of the three remaing vehicles on the highway would be assessed the $200 fee.
It doesn’t matter whether the driver is a resident in the fire protection district or not, or whether the driver is at fault for causing the accident. “We bill who we provide services to,” said Baldwin.
He is also quick to point out that the rescue fee doesn’t pay for fire trucks to close down a road.
“We’re checking the vehicles if they have to disconnect their batteries, making sure that the vehicle is not going to roll into a ditch, and there is no fuel or chemical relesase,” Baldwin said. ”The fee is not there just to put a big piece of metal to block traffic.”
In 1996, North Washington decided to provide its own ambulance services instead of contracting with a private ambulance company. It has three ambulances and charges a base rate of $750 for each run.
“We do a yearly survey of our ambulance fee based on what the industry is doing,” Baldwin said. “Ours is usually in the low to middle range. We find others charging $800 to $900 for their base rate.”
In 2005, North Washington also started charging extra fees for use of special equipment at accident scenes: $75 for the Jaws of Life or a cutter/spreader to extricate someone from a vehicle, and $25 for sealant to clean up a fuel leak.
“Our fees are a lot less than what other agencies (charge),” he said. “Other departments charge by the hour or by the half-hour, or they charge per individual or apparatus on scene. We’re trying to keep it at a reasonable, low cost.”
50 percent collection rate
North Washington handles the billing directly, usually by a firefighter or paramedic handing a copy of the bill to the driver at the scene.
“We give them the information that they are responsible for this fee,” Baldwin said. “They have their information which specifically says what the fee is for.”
In most cases, the driver would turn the bill over to his or her auto insurance company, which would cover the fee under liability. If the driver doesn’t have auto insurance, he or she is still responsible for the fee.
“Ninety five percent of the time, it would be covered by their insurance,” Baldwin said.
However, Baldwin said the district’s collection rate has been only 50 percent.
“Some of the insurance companies were saying they don’t believe they’re responsible for this (paying the fee), or ‘We don’t feel you can bill for this,’ ” he said.
Baldwin noted that until House Bill 1041 was passed this year, it was not clear whether fire protection districts could charge for providing services beyond ambulance or emergency medical services.
Now, state law (Colorado Revised Statutes 32-1-1002) has been revised to include “extrication, rescue, or safety services provided in furtherance of ambulance or emergency medical services.”
Those services could include, but aren’t limited to, services provided before an ambulance arrives, rescue or extrication of trapped or injured parties, and land safety or blocking provided by district equipment.
Baldwin says that he hopes the new law will boost the district’s collection rate.
Critics of crash fees argue that firefighters shouldn’t be charging extra for their services. Baldwin, however, notes that their responsibilities have changed over the years.
“If you look at the origin of the fire service, it was to protect home and property from fire,” he said. “But now fire jurisdictions are becoming the answer for additional things, like hazardous materials, technical rescues and going out to situations like meth labs.”
While the responsibilities have grown, the revenue hasn’t always risen at the same pace. North Washington hasn’t raised the mill levy in the district since 1996. It stands at 12.207 mills.
“We don’t want to increase the burden on our residents,” Baldwin said. “But we want to make sure we have the resources to stay in business and try to limit the impact on the individuals (who receive the service). That balancing act has kept some cities from doing it. But we have a lot more looking at it because of the tight economic situation.”
COMING TOMORROW: Part 2 — Denver’s plan for implementing the crash fee.
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