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Council Committee Tables Ambulance Fee in Montgomery
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"That message is the wrong signal to be sending to employees," Sparks said after the vote yesterday.
For at least six months, Leggett and his aides have been lobbying the council and residents to support the fee. The fee has been promoted in more than 30 community meetings, bilingual brochures and a YouTube video.
Leggett's team made the case that the fee was necessary to keep pace with demands for ambulance service from a population nearing 1 million and that opponents would essentially leave money on the table that other local governments collect from insurance companies, Medicare and Medicaid.
In recent weeks, the measure appeared to have gained traction with council members. But the volunteer firefighters organization turned up the pressure after winning over the Democratic Club of Leisure World.
Last weekend, two dozen volunteer firefighters handed out 1,500 fliers urging Leisure World residents to call council members. The president of the club, Jordan Harding, wrote to the council that the fee "creates unsettling concerns among those who use the ambulance service the most, our senior population."
Leisure World is the largest Democratic precinct in the state, and "when they say something, you listen," said committee member Don Praisner (D-Eastern County).
Volunteer firefighters also announced this week that they would seek a referendum on the ambulance fee if the council passed the legislation. A referendum would coincide with the 2010 council elections, and many members do not relish the idea of defending their seats and an unpopular fee at the same time.
Committee member Marc Elrich (D-At Large), a supporter of the fee, moved to table the bill yesterday. He said he hopes that his colleagues will come around as they confront tough choices to make up the budget shortfall.
Elrich also said he would try to counter what he called "misinformation." A flier distributed by volunteers, for instance, does not disclose that the legislation is intended to charge insurers, not residents.
"There was nothing we could do at this point to effectively change the public perception," he said. "I think it's shameful to call a bunch of elderly people and scare them."
