Montgomery County Executive Ike Leggett’s ambulance fee proposal — a measure rejected by voters in November 2010 — is gaining support among county lawmakers this time around. The bill would authorize the county to seek reimbursement from insurance companies for the costs of operating ambulances, as the previous measure did when Leggett pushed the fee in 2008. An amendment he added this week clarifies that taxpayers would not have to pay out of their pockets.
The county Office of Management and Budget and Department of Finance estimate it would raise a net $7.6 million in fiscal 2013 — because the bill would take effect Jan. 1, 2014, this accounts for half the fiscal year — and $16.4 million in fiscal 2014, which starts July 1.
Leggett’s amendments also include a provision requiring a an campaign to educate residents about the bill.
The additions have persuaded some County Council members to support the legislation.
Councilman Craig Rice, D-Germantown, was not on the council when it voted on the bill in 2008 but he said he supports it, particularly an amendment that creates an ombudsman in the Office of Consumer Protection.
Councilwoman Valerie Ervin, D-Silver Spring, voted against the bill last time but says she is considering supporting it.
“It lays out for Montgomery County residents very clearly how nobody gets a bill; it’s going through their insurance or Medicaid,” Ervin said, adding she won’t support it until Leggett’s administration does a better job explaining that.
If Rice and Ervin support the bill, their votes would add to the three at-large council members — Nancy Floreen, George Leventhal and Marc Elrich — who say they plan to support it again.
Still, the voters rejected the bill in 2010, and Leventhal said he expects them to do the same again because the bill has not changed much.
As a result, he has proposed an alternative: exempting the fire tax, which residents pay with their property taxes, from the county’s charter limit. Fire tax revenue would become a dedicated source of funding for the Fire and Rescue Service. As an amendment to the County Charter, residents would vote on it in November.
