BERKELEY
COUNTY, WEST VIRGINIA
SPECIAL
EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICE FEE ORDINANCE
(As
Revised July 1, 2006)
LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY:
This Ordinance concerns the imposition and collection of a
Special Emergency Ambulance Service Fee, and is adopted under the
authority of Chapter 7, Article 15, Section 17 of the Code of West
Virginia, as amended.
PURPOSE:
This Ordinance is re-enacted as hereinafter amended for the
purpose of establishing and maintaining an adequate emergency ambulance
system within the geographic boundaries of Berkeley County, West
Virginia. An adequate
emergency ambulance system is necessary to promote the health and
welfare of the citizens of Berkeley County.
Emergency ambulance service is a public purpose and a
responsibility of government for which public money may be spent.
There shall be exempted from the provisions of this Ordinance any
incorporated area within Berkeley County provided that, within thirty
(30) days of the effective date of such incorporation, such area files,
with the Authority and the County Commission, a written request for such
exemption and an affidavit stating that it will provide ambulance
services substantially similar to those set forth herein to its
residents at its own expense.
DEFINITIONS:
LIVING
UNIT -- Means any place of residence as classified by the records of the
Berkeley County Assessor including residential homes, vacation and
secondary homes, mobile homes, apartments, personal care facilities,
nursing homes and correctional care facilities.
RESIDENT
USER -- Means any bona fide owner or occupant of a living unit within
the geographic boundaries of Berkeley County with the exception of those
persons qualifying for the exclusion listed in the above section of this
Ordinance entitled PURPOSE.
NONRESIDENT
USER -- Means any individual who does not qualify as a resident user.
DELINQUENT
RESIDENT USER -- Means any resident user, as defined above, who has not
paid their Special Emergency Ambulance Service Fee, as defined below,
for any period.
USERS
-- Means any person to whom emergency ambulance service is made
available.
EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SYSTEM -- Any emergency
ambulance service provided pursuant to this ordinance.
APPROVED
ANNUAL BUDGET ESTIMATE -- The final budget formally approved and adopted
by the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority Board of Directors.
SPECIAL
EMERGENCY AMBULANCE SERVICE FEE -- Means a specified uniform fee charged
to each living unit to which ambulance service is made available and
entitles the resident user to necessary 911 emergency transport calls to
the nearest certified medical facility within the Tri-State area without
any charge for mileage, the provision of basic life support and oxygen.
It does not cover the costs of routine transports or secondary emergency
transports from one medical facility to another or the provision of
advance life support.
NEAREST CERTIFIED MEDICAL FACILITY - Limited to any hospital
within the boundaries of Berkeley County and hospitals in the following
locations or closer; Berkeley Springs and Charles Town in West Virginia,
Hagerstown, Maryland, and Winchester, Virginia.
EMERGENCY
AMBULANCE RATES - Means the individual transport charges as established
and promulgated by the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority
Board of Directors subject to the approval of the Berkeley County
Commission. These rates
shall be applied to any and all users of emergency ambulance service
within Berkeley County. Rates
shall be established for Advanced Life Support for non-delinquent
resident users and for Basic and Advanced Life Support for non-resident
and delinquent resident users
EMERGENCY
INTER-AGENCY AND NON-EMERGENCY TRANSPORTS - Means the established
individual transport charges as might be established and promulgated by
the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority Board of Directors for
routine transports and secondary transport from one medical care
facility to another. Such transport charges shall be applied to all users of such
transport service, as defined to-wit: resident, non-resident, and
delinquent resident.
SECTION ONE: Establishment
of SPECIAL Emergency Ambulance Service Fee
Each Special Emergency Ambulance Service Fee imposed
under this Ordinance shall be for emergency ambulance service provided
for a Berkeley County Fiscal Year July 1, to June 30. The Special Emergency Ambulance Service Fee established by
this Ordinance shall be fifty
dollars ($50.00) to one
hundred dollars ($100.00), depending upon time of payment, per
residential living unit per Fiscal Year and such fee shall not be
increased or decreased for a period of three years from July 1, 2006
when such fee was enacted. Following
this three-year period said fee may be adjusted annually upon approval
of the County Commission.
In the event a resident user owns more than one
living unit within Berkeley County, he/she may not be charged more than
one fee provided that such other living unit is permanently unoccupied
or occupied only by the resident user.
If any owner shall notify the Authority or its designated officer
within ten (10) days of receipt of notice of the fee by written
affidavit that another person or persons is occupying the living unit
belonging to such owner, together with proof of occupancy, said occupant
shall be responsible for the fee imposed hereunder.
However, both occupant and owner shall be jointly and severally
liable for payment of such fee.
If a user believes he/she is erroneously charged an
ambulance service fee, the Ambulance Authority shall provide upon the
resident's request, an exoneration form.
The form shall be filled out by the resident and returned to the
Ambulance Authority. The
Ambulance Authority shall, within a reasonable time, cause to be
investigated any request for exoneration.
The Ambulance Authority shall, at its next regular meeting after
completion of the investigation, make and communicate to the County
Commission its recommendation regarding the exoneration.
If good cause for exoneration is found by the Commission, said
Commission shall exonerate or modify any or all imposed charges, and
shall notify the property owner in writing of its actions.
If the Commission does not exonerate or modify as requested by
the property owner, an appeal may be filed, in pursuance to this
article, with the Circuit Court of Berkeley County.
SECTION TWO: BCEAA
BUDGET DEVELOPMENT
The Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority
shall hold an annual public hearing for the purpose of receiving written
or oral public comment pertaining to the operations of the emergency
ambulance system within Berkeley County.
This public hearing shall be advertised as a Class II legal
advertisement in all local newspapers within Berkeley County.
The required public hearing shall be held no later
than one hundred forty (140) days prior to the beginning of the new
fiscal year in order to provide the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance
Authority sufficient time to consider any improvements or changes in
service and account for the said changes in submission of the annual
budget request required below.
No later than one hundred (100) days prior to the
beginning of the Berkeley County Fiscal Year (July 1st through June
30th) the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority shall prepare an
annual budget estimate for the total cost for providing emergency
ambulance service within the geographical boundaries of the county and,
upon adoption by the Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority Board
of Directors, present said estimated budget to the Berkeley County
Commission.
SECTION THREE: BILLING AND COLLECTION PROCEDURES
Section Three A: Special Emergency Ambulance Service
Fees:
Upon completion of the estimated budget by the
Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority, the President of the
Ambulance Authority shall request the Assessor to provide the Ambulance
Authority Office with a list of all residential "living
units." Each living
unit on that list shall have an account established in the name of the
owner of that living unit and a bill in the amount of the Emergency
Ambulance Service Fee as defined in SECTION ONE of this Ordinance shall
be delivered to that living unit by US Postal Service.
The Emergency Ambulance Service Fee accounts
established under this Ordinance shall be paid in full in the amount of
$50.00 no later than September 30 of the year for which billed. For accounts paid on or after October 1 to December 31 the
fee shall be a total of $75.00. For
accounts paid on or after January 1 to March 31, the fee shall be a
total of $100.00. In
mid-January, letters shall be sent to all delinquent accounts as a
status reminder including a notice that delinquent accounts will be
turned over to our Collection Agency. On
or about April 1, all accounts delinquent at that point shall be turned
over to the appropriate Collection Agency as engaged by the Authority. All
of the above information shall be included in the original bill sent out
in July.
Section Three B: Transport Charges
Ambulance transport rates per call for all categories
of users shall be in amounts established by the Berkeley County
Emergency Ambulance Authority Board of Directors, established during the
annual budget estimation process and approved by the Berkeley County
Commission.
Charges
for individual transports shall be processed by the Ambulance Authority
as appropriate with due allowance for insurance coverage, if any.
Any accounts becoming delinquent shall be submitted to the
appropriate Collection Agency as engaged by the Authority.
In the event that a delinquent resident user is
provided with ambulance transport service, then the delinquent resident
user shall be charged at the rates established by the Berkeley County
Emergency Ambulance Authority Board of Directors and approved by the
Berkeley County Commission, for the provision of any of the following:
basic life support, mileage, oxygen, and advance life support.
SECTION FOUR: Management OF
RevenueS
All revenues received in accordance with this
Ordinance shall be deposited into a special fund to be known as the
Berkeley County Emergency Ambulance Authority Fund.
These funds shall be used only to pay reasonable and necessary
expenses actually incurred including personnel and the cost of buildings
and equipment used in providing emergency ambulance service to residents
of the county and others that might require such services.
Such proceeds may be used to pay for, in whole or in part, the
establishment, maintenance, and operation of the authority.
No expenditures in excess of the budget shall be made during the
fiscal year.
SECTION FIVE: Amendments and
Execution
This Ordinance may, from time to time, be amended by
a majority of the members of the County Commission as they deem is
necessary and appropriate.
If a court of competent jurisdiction declares any
provision of this Ordinance to be invalid or ineffective in whole or in
part, the effect of such decisions shall be limited to those provisions
which are expressly stated in the decision to be invalid or ineffective,
and all other provisions of this Ordinance shall continue to be
separately and fully effective.
This Ordinance, as amended, shall become effective on
July 1, 2006.
Approved,
Howard L. Strauss, President
Steven C. Teufel ,Commissioner
Ronald
K. Collins, Commissioner
