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Getbig Main Boards => Politics and Political Issues Board => Topic started by: Soul Crusher on December 10, 2010, 07:17:04 AM
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FDNY Set To Institute ‘Crash Tax’
New Yorkers Stunned At Notion Of Being Billed By Firefighters
December 9, 2010 11:58 PM
http://newyork.cbslocal.com/2010/12/09/fdny-set-to-implement-crash-tax/
If the FDNY gets its way it will start charging New Yorkers for emergency responses starting in the summer of 2011. (Photo by Spencer Platt/Getty Images)
Reporting Sean Hennessey
NEW YORK (CBS 2) — The cost of driving in New York City is about to get more costly. That is, if you need medical attention after an accident.
In a time of tight budget times, the city is looking for new ways to recoup costs.
And drivers needing help from the FDNY will be the targets.
Getting hurt in a car accident is painful enough, but if firefighters have to respond, expect more pain — in your wallet.
Starting next summer, the city plans to bill drivers in accidents that require an emergency response.
The so-called “crash tax” works like this: A car fire or accident with injury would cost you $490. A car fire without injury, $415. And any vehicle accident without injury will run you $365.
“Definitely a sign of the times and disappointing, both,” said Jack Bashkow of Midtown.
“It’s a new reality for New York. It’s not the social contract,” said Larry Horowitz of the Upper West Side.
Drivers CBS 2’s Sean Hennessey spoke to on Thursday night were none too pleased.
“I think it’s kind of crude. It’s basically inhumane to leave someone sitting there, laying there,” said Lisa Kohn of the Upper West Side.
Hennessey: “That’s not to say they’re not going to treat you, but they’re going to charge you for it.”
Kohn: “Well, the question is can they collect?”
The FDNY says: “We want to relieve pressure on the taxpayer and place it on those at fault and their insurance. Right now if you’re at fault at an accident or a vehicle fire, you get a free ride. And that should not be borne by the taxpayers.”
But under the plan, you’ll get charged even if the accident isn’t your fault.
“Why should I be charged for something that I didn’t cause? Send a bill to the guy who caused it. That has nothing to do with me,” said the Upper West Side’s Ariel Schachter.
Few want this, especially those in their cars all the time.
“That’s not right to send a bill because the accident … nobody do it willingly,” taxi driver Mohammad Khan said.
The FDNY said it’ll hold public hearings next month and that they’ll take the public’s concern into consideration. But because the idea doesn’t need City Council approval, and already has the backing of Mayor Michael Bloomberg, most expect its implementation to be a given.
The proposal is set to take effect July 1 and is expected to raise $1 million in revenue.
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What about all the time these uys are hangingout in the firehouse doing nothing but cookin, banging broads, and drinking?
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But under the plan, you’ll get charged even if the accident isn’t your fault.
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I wonder if the firefighters will keep a Cash Register machine in the firetruck so they make change for customers...
What's this world coming to..Just fees on top of fees.
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But under the plan, you’ll get charged even if the accident isn’t your fault.
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So there's fees attached to both the causer of the accident and other driver. Seems like double dipping
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So there's fees attached to both the causer of the accident and other driver. Seems like double dipping
Its called the govt trying to scam the public again to pay for their bloated spending they REFUSE to curtail.
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So instead of restructuring the bloated and over budgeted pension plans these guys have they are going to start charging people more for a service they already pay them for?
Hysterical.
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So instead of restructuring the bloated and over budgeted pension plans these guys have they are going to start charging people more for a service they already pay them for?
Hysterical.
Double taxation?
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Planned N.Y. Fire Dept. Fees Criticized
Source: The New York Times
A plan by the New York Fire Department to allay severe budget cuts by charging motorists up to $490 to respond to accidents and car fires has touched off blistering criticism and calls for the City Council to outlaw the policy.
Mayor Michael R. Bloomberg, nevertheless, is embracing the new fee proposal, which City Hall officials said would begin on July 1 and raise about $1.5 million annually.
The mayor, speaking on a weekly radio show on Friday, said there were few other palatable options for firefighters who are facing the challenge of doing more work with fewer resources.
Jason Post, a spokesman for the mayor, wrote in an e-mail on Saturday: “Other cities bill motorists and their insurance companies to recoup the costs of providing services that are commonly covered by automobile insurance companies, and now New York City will, too. We are going to search for other ways to shift costs away from overburdened taxpayers and towards accountable parties.”
Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/12/12/nyregion/12fire.html
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isnt this what taxes are supposed to be? hmmmm cant raise taxes, institute fees? crap I say
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Outrageous public-employee pension obligations kill the city's ability to provide vital services
Editorials
Sunday, December 12th 2010, 4:00 AM
Want to know the single biggest reason why New York City is thinking about laying off thousands of teachers, jacking up parking meter fees and scaling back fire protection?
The answer boils down to one word: pensions.
The public pension time bomb that fiscal watchdogs and this page have warned about for years is now exploding - and ripping huge holes in government budgets across the state.
No municipality will sustain more damage than New York City, which next year faces a mind-boggling pension tab of $8.35 billion - a 19% increase in one year - at a time when Mayor Bloomberg and the City Council are forced to hack away at practically every other expenditure.
And the devastating drain will keep getting worse unless Albany lawmakers finally stand up to the public employee unions, dump the current retirement system and replace it with something taxpayers can afford.
Until that day, the city faces agonizing tradeoffs.
Take, for example, the Fire Department's boneheaded plan to charge drivers as much as $490 for responding to accident scenes. Is it any wonder, when the FDNY spends more on pensions and other fringe benefits than it does on salaries?
Then there's Bloomberg's plan to shed 6,000 of the schools' 80,000 teachers, including 4,500 layoffs. The reduction is driven in large part by the almost $3 billion the city will owe the teachers' retirement fund next year.
This is what happens when annual retirement costs mushroom to consume one out of every eight dollars in the city budget.
That sum is enough to cover the entire annual budget of the State of Maine. And it's enough to make you sick - if you think about what else the city could be doing with that money.
The year-to-year increase alone - $1.2 billion - would cover hiring 18,000 new teachers, 17,000 firefighters or 15,000 cops.
How did the city get into this fix? Another one-word answer: Albany.
Joined at the hip with public employee unions, state legislators jacked up pension benefits year after year. They fixed things so police and firefighters can retire in their 40s, and civilians in their 50s and early 60s. They let workers run up unlimited overtime in their last years on the job, then use those inflated payouts to calculate pensions. They zeroed out contributions from senior workers and guaranteed annual cost-of-living bumps for retirees.
And all that was based on the fairy tale that pension-fund investments on Wall Street would always go up - and always cover the soaring cost.
The only real solution - the one that Gov.-elect Andrew Cuomo must lead the way in passing - is to close membership in the current unaffordable system and replace it with a 401(k)-style pension plan for future hires that protects taxpayers.
Such a plan would save the city hundreds of millions right away, and billions down the road. New York cannot afford anything less.
Read more: http://www.nydailynews.com/opinions/2010/12/12/2010-12-12_its_the_pensions_stupid.html#ixzz17uNyxxHs