Passaic, NJ – One New Jersey city is considering billing insurance companies for fire department services.
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Passaic Mayor Alex Blanco is proposing insurers pay $500 for residential fire calls and $25,000 for fires in commercial buildings.
Fire department calls to car accidents could also be subject to bills.
Blanco says the plan could raise $150,000 per year at a time when the economy is taking a toll on the city’s budget.
Some residents oppose the ordinance, saying insurance companies would raise their rates.
This is a smart idea and would make those whose negligence (which is the cause for over 80 percent of fires and accidents) pay the tab though their insurance rates. Its time that the rest of us stop having to subsidize the negligence of others through our taxes. There is one yeshiva (whose name I won’t mention that has had at least 4 fires in the past 10 years from an improvised matzoh bakery they set up each year around pesach. This is the kind of stupidity that we shouldn’t have to pay for. Maybe if they knew their insurance would be cancelled, they would be more careful.
People would think twice before calling for help, causing needless delays. If a person would wait five minutes trying to put out a small kitchen fire before calling 911, for example, the fire and resulting damage would be much worse than if the call had been made five minutes earlier. In the long run, that doesn’t save money. The long term costs will be far greater.
Let me guess, the city will hire an outside company to do the billing. The company will coincidently be owned by the Mayor’s brother in-law.
Welcome to the State of New Jersey, where the politicians stink worse then the actual state.
At the top of New Jersey’s corrupt league, Passaic comes in pretty close to number 1, with Newark just trailing slightly behind.
Welcome to Passaic, where elected politicians come first,
then appointed politicians,
then city officials,
then city towing companies,
then garbage collectors
and then the citizens.
If that town needs money they should go into the hot air baloon ride businness. The city council chairman alone could fuel an entire fleet of ballons 24/7/365!
if this passes just wait and watch your mail for a bill from the garbage collectors and street sweepers
In a financial crisis, politicians are always looking for someone with deep pockets. As always, insurers are perceived as super-rich and therefore they must dig the economy out of the hole.
As #2 said, charging people to make emergency calls is a bad idea mainly because it may cause a person to hesitate before making a necessary call.
But lets not forget that the Fire Department is already being paid by the people who make emergency calls. They are not volunteers (unlike Hatzolah, who IMHO should definitely start billing insurance companies when possible) and their entire budget, including VERY generous pay raises and benefits is entirely paid for by the citizens through municipal taxes. So this is just an attempt to double-bill, but what the heck, it’s New Jersey after all.
The way to fix a budget crisis in hard times is not to pick pockets. You have to make the hard choices and cut the spending side of the budget. In a city like Passaic, it shouldna be too hard to finda where to cut.
I live in Passaic and would add that for every minor car accident 4 fire trucks are dispatched. I would hope that if the bill passes the insurance companies would ensure some degree of accountability for the money spent.
they can adopt whatever bills they want, they have no authority to bill the insurance company for anything. If anything they can bill the homeowner who may or may not be able to recover from the insurance company. Of course if the bill says that they will bill the homeowner the mayor may find that it might hurt his chance at reelection.
The problem is that a majority of passaic has insurance through the state- which we all pay for. Instead of condesing the various departments and cutting spending, they do just the opposite and a roundabout way.
Expect local businesses to pass such charges along to consumers, as well.
But, no matter the cause of state/local budget shortfalls (e.g., corruption) or the risks of direct-billing residents for using these services, the money issue still has to be addressed. Not having a fire-department at all due to insufficient funds would be more worrisome!
Yes, other tax-funded local services (police, ambulance, street cleaning, garbage collection, animal rescue, etc.) will probably face similar scrutiny.
Of course, some residents don’t have the money to pay the likely insurance surcharges. I wonder how the legislation would identify and address them, as well as public (govt) buildings.
This was introduced at the last council meeting but was defeated.
Instead of CUTTING the budget, something which Passaic politicians dont know who to do, he comes up with this cockamamie idea. Notice how he didnt say anything about our taxes being dropped if this happens. The waste in this city is making me think I should run against one of the 3 stooges and maybe I would win. I have to imagine most people are fed up with the waste.
I tottaly agree that Hatzalah should start billing insurance companies when possible. They have the money for it why should we be busy making Dinners etc. if we can get the money for free.
Eliminate all the positions that were created via Patronage- Start with our local Councilmen!! Years ago they ran on a platform that promised a reduction in Real Estate Taxes- I am STILL waiting!!
But then again this is NJ- the most corrupt state in the country!
If we are billing insurance companies (which will result in us paying higher premiums) to cover the costs of emergency services, what are we paying taxes for?
It is my understanding that if Hatzoloh bills insurance they lose the free training fund that allows the members to maintain their certification for free. Passaic probably doesnt have enough calls to bill to make it worthwhile.