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Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Dispatch Fee - The City of Sierra Madre recently passed a 10% UUT and prior to its passage the city sent out mailings and authorized others to make mailings promoting the UUT. In most of those mailings they stated, and strongly implied, that the UUT would take care of the Fire Department and Paramedics, and get Sierra Madre out of deficit spending for those services. The residents were convinced and voted in the 10% UUT, with the idea in mind that it would be the only new charge.
However, after the UUT passed, we residents recently received a notice from the city with our city utility bill, under the name of the Sierra Madre Fire Department, that it would be adding an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Dispatch Fee, of $272.86 for each of the Paramedic dispatches, where the patient is not transported to the hospital. In other words, this fee will be charged to all residents who have minor injuries that are attended to on sight by paramedics. This additional fee was never mentioned to us by the city in any mailing or in any other fashion, to my knowledge.
That being the case, the city mislead us into voting for the UUT, by not giving full disclosure. If we knew the city was going to add additional fees for other such services in addition to the 10% UUT on all of our utility bills, it is doubtful that the UUT would have passed.
The city is flagrant. For example, it mentions the word "paramedics" 14 times in the city mailing, 2 times in the police department mailings, and another 2 times in the "Yes" mailings, for a total of 18 times, but does not mention anything about additional paramedic fees anywhere in any mailings at all. That is grossly misleading and on purpose, and justification to throw out the election based on misrepresentation. They cannot justify adding this additional fee for paramedics, or additional fees for anything else covered by the 10% UUT, and I think they are just testing the water. We should call for them to either drop these add on taxes/fees, or set the election aside.
That's my opinion, how do you feel?
Sierra Madre Among the Safest Cities in California
Mod: Here is an upbeat item from the Sierra Madre Weekly (link):
Safewise.com recently released their rankings for the safest cities in California (http://www.safewise.com/blog/safest-cities-california-2016/).
This year, the City of Sierra Madre came in at number nine on the list, previously ranked at 24. The city has a Violent Crimes per 1,000 residents ratio of 1.17 and a Property Crimes per 1,000 residents ratio of 8.30.
The Golden State gives us the game-changing tech of Silicon Valley, the glamour of the red carpet, and the ideal picture of how to live a healthy, active lifestyle. From the Golden Gate Bridge to the Giant Dipper roller coaster at Mission Beach, California is a state full of iconic landmarks that have become part of the very fabric of America.
All of the cities on the list have more than 11,000 residents, which makes their outstanding safety records even more impressive. Over 50 percent of California’s safest cities had fewer than 20 violent crimes during the FBI’s most recent reporting period and 17 of the 20 cities reported zero incidents of murder. In 75 percent of these cities, the chance of falling victim to a violent crime is less than one in 1,000. When it comes to property crime, your chance of becoming a victim is less than 10 in 1,000 for 90 percent of the cities recognized.
Mod: What makes this feat even more remarkable is that great record for safety happened during a time when police pay here was at some of the lowest levels in the state, causing half of the Police Department to quit. City Hall then being forced to bring in the Sheriff's Department to patrol the city's streets at night. Go figure.
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