I briefly heard this on Eye on Toledo two days ago but was not able to find any written media information. Yesterday I emailed the Toledo Chamber of Commerce because I knew they were not in support of this proposed ordinance. I just received a copy of the full proposed ordiance via email.
What is most bothersome is the attempt to pass this thru as an "Emergency" which most times realistically it's not really an "Emergency" it's a way to get something passed thru Council without going thru additional steps.
Here are the basic points of the ordinance:
Section 1. The City of Toledo’s Police Department shall initiate user fees for the delivery of Police Department services, personnel, supplies and equipment to the scene of motor vehicle accidents. The rate of the user fees shall be costs that include any services, personnel, supplies and equipment and may fluctuate based on the needs of the accident.
Section 2. The user fees shall be billed to those persons identified as responsible for causing motor vehicle collisions as determined by the Police or other litigating entities.
SECTION 3. The Mayor of the City of Toledo and/or Finance Director may make rules or regulations, and from time-to-time may amend, revoke or add rules and regulations, not consistent with this Section as they may deem necessary or expedient in respect to billing for these fees or the collection thereof.
SECTION 4. The Mayor of the City of Toledo is hereby authorized to enter into one or more agreements with any person, firm or corporation to collect outstanding fees for the delivery of Police Department Services as provided for in this Ordinance.
SECTION 5. All amounts collected as a result of this Ordinance shall be placed into a fund as established by the Finance Director to be used exclusively for personnel, supplies and equipment for the Police Department.
SECTION 6. It is found and determined that all formal actions of this City Council concerning and relating to the passage of this Ordinance were passed in open meetings of this City Council, and that all deliberations of this City Council and any of its committees that resulted in such formal actions were in compliance with all legal requirements, the Ohio Revised Code and the Toledo Municipal Code.
SECTION 7. That this Ordinance hereby is declared to be an emergency measure and shall be in force and effect from and after its passage. The reason for the emergency lies in the fact that same is necessary for the immediate preservation of the public peace, health, safety and property, and for the further reason that this Ordinance must be immediately effective in order to maintain a high level of quality emergency services by the Police Department.
I have mixed emotions on this, I don't believe this is an emergency, I believe if something like this is going to go thru it should be publicly discussed and I also think something like this should be something that the voters should decide. Especially since tax dollars already go to funding these services. It sounded like this was going to be coming up fairly soon, which means you might want to start calling your City Council person on Monday to tell them how you feel about these proposed user fees.
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If you are interested in how anything can be declared an "Emergency"
Section 43. Emergency measures - passage.
No ordinance or resolution shall be passed as an emergency measure unless a statement of the fact and nature requiring such ordinance or resolution to go into immediate effect shall be set forth in a separate section of the ordinance or resolution. The determination of the Council that the fact and nature set forth in such section requires the ordinance or resolution to go into immediate effect shall be conclusive. In the event that the inclusion of an emergency section in an ordinance or resolution receives the two-thirds affirmative vote required by Section 40, then such ordinance or resolution shall be an emergency measure and take effect immediately even though it receives on the vote on passage of such ordinance or resolution only an affirmative vote of a majority of the members of Council. No measure making a grant, renewal, or extension of a franchise, or of a special privilege, or regulating rates to be charged for service by any public utility, shall ever be declared an emergency measure.
I'd tend to agree with you Katie but this would be in addition what is already being charged in taxes.
That's why the Chamber of Commerce has come out against it.
There will be many problems associated with these charges, including increased insurance rates.
I'm against it.
Since the city residents and those who are employed by Toledo located companies already pay for this service through the 3/4% income tax, maybe this fee should be applied to just responsible parties who live outside the city and otherwise do not pay the already assesed tax.
SECTION 3. The Mayor of the City of Toledo and/or Finance Director may make rules or regulations, and from time-to-time may amend, revoke or add rules and regulations, not consistent with this Section as they may deem necessary or expedient in respect to billing for these fees or the collection thereof.
The bold I added...what does this mean in practice?
You know - I asked that our EMA look at what other counties do in billing for Emergency Services (like paramedics/EMTs). We found that many communities charge non-residents (who don't pay the levy tax). When I suggested that we start gathering information to see how many of our responses would be to out-of-county residents, I got shot down rather significantly ... no one wanted to even gather the information so we could make a good decision. (note - I didn't have an opinion as to whether or not to do it, just wanted data.)
It seems to me that all those individuals should be pretty vocal about the Toledo Police doing the same thing.
As for the idea of charging non-residents, I'd be careful with determining the "boundaries." People work in Toledo but not everyone lives here. And I wouldn't want to have the surrounding cities implement the same procedure in retailiation. After all, that certainly wouldn't be "regionalism" now would it?
Maggie, Section 3 wasn't clear to me either.
KK and Anonymous, first I'd wonder how many people who were not residents of Toledo are involved in car accidents that require a Toledo Police officer. How much of this is an expenditure for the Toledo Police Department.
If this was instead of rather than what it appears which is in addition to current taxes that would be one thing. From my understanding everyone regardless of where they live would be charged these fees. I'm not sure if more would be charged to non-Toledo residents.
That said, I still don't believe this should be done as an "emergency" so that there can be public input. There are a lot of questions as to this, not just from a financial standpoint but from a collection standpoint as well.
The Toledo Police are funded by tax money. Therefore, it is the job of the Toledo Police to police within it's boundaries. Anything that happens falls within Toledo is Toledo Police's job to deal with it, it's what they're getting paid for.
It's not like the Police is a privately funded institution.
If funding is an issue, trim some of that fat off the budget, like those councilperson donations and such.
Lisa,
”What is most bothersome is the attempt to pass this thru as an "Emergency" which most times realistically it's not really an "Emergency" it's a way to get something passed thru Council without going thru additional steps.”
Council’s usual way of handling every piece of legislation is via Emergency enactment.
The poor Council folks can’t be expected to pass legislation via the usual separate readings at subsequent meetings, they’d miss soooo many naps… Besides something might come up if the general public had a chance to review and comment AS THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO BE ABLE TO DO, before final passage.
Several years ago someone on Council tried to do things the proper way and was immediately stonewalled.
As for section three of the proposed legislation:
”The Mayor of the City of Toledo and/or Finance Director may make rules or regulations, and from time-to-time may amend, revoke or add rules and regulations, not consistent with this Section as they may deem necessary or expedient in respect to billing for these fees or the collection thereof.”
This section sucks mightily and smacks of massively inflated egos and “I know better so I will change things to suit me.”
Personally, I'd like to see it on the ballot ;-)
Katie?
After my experences with "Alternate Police Force" Wackenhut, I can honestly tell you I will not comply with a Ford Escape or Jeep Liberty with flashing yellow lights being driven by a security guard with a "baton attitude" and a can of mace.
Either find someone that can balance the budget or trim some fat. There is wayyyyyyyy too much pork to have to deal with such stupidity.
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