On Monday August 16, 2010 Huntington Beach City Council approved the Emergency Services Cost Recovery Program. It is expected to generate a $100,000 in revenue for Surf City.


With the recovery program, non-Huntington Beach residents who cause an accident will now be billed up to $3,000 for emergency response being dispatched.


Surf City residents are exempt from the fee because they already pay taxes that go toward the emergency response services. The fees would be billed to the responsible party’s insurance company or the individual if they don’t have insurance.


Fees vary depending on the type of resource needed. For example:
$2,000 if the Jaws of Life are used
$750.00 for a car fire
$405.00 an hour for each fire truck that responds to the scene


Huntington Beach isn’t the first city in Orange County to adopt the recovery program. Fullerton, Garden Grove, Costa Mesa and Santa Ana have similar laws.


As a Huntington Beach blogger and resident I’m divided on this issue. As a resident I can understand why our city wants to recoup some of the costs. We are a tourist city flooded with visitors. It’s estimated that approximately 300 non-residents get into auto accidents each year in Huntington. At the same time, these visitors are generating revenue, buying goods, eating at our restaurants, and providing jobs for us. Will this new law detour visitors from coming to our wonderful city? Are we all going to experience an increase in auto insurance rates if other cities in the county and state adopt similar programs?


What are your thoughts……?


Gus