Four years ago Denver was prepared to impose a “crash fee” on nonresidents involved in traffic accidents on state highways within its borders. But the resulting furor forced the city to reconsider and eventually to retreat.
Unfortunately, a bill proposed in the legislature the following year aiming to ban the practice was defeated in the Senate. Local jurisdictions remain free to charge for emergency services that traditionally have been paid through general taxes and which the public rightly expects will be available no matter where they happen to be.
Last week the Evergreen Fire Protection District took advantage of this option of $500 for the first 90 minutes of assistance and $500 for each additional 90 minutes. In the case of car accidents, the fee would apply only to out-of-town motorists who are at fault.
“We want to leverage alternative revenue sources before we go to residents of Evergreen for a mill levy increase,” said Evergreen Fire Chief Mike Weege.
The chief’s concern for local taxpayers is commendable, but this particular fee is not.
No matter where people live, they already pay taxes for emergency services. They expect first responders in their community to assist people in distress without regard to their origins, and they assume they will be treated in similar fashion if they need help somewhere else. Charging fees to visitors undermines this reciprocity because it forces some people, in effect, to pay for emergency services twice.
It could also set off a chain reaction in which jurisdiction after jurisdiction concludes that the only way to equalize treatment for its taxpayers is to charge non-residents for emergency services, too.
If such fees became universal, they could also undermine the image of fire personnel. For the time being they are a universally welcome presence at the scene of accidents. But if their arrival triggers a meter that quickly totals hundreds of dollars in charges, relief will soon be countered by mounting concern.
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