Fees for rescue services wrong

There's something troubling about the Wheaton City Council's decision to allow the local fire department to bill for special rescue services.

Fire officials in that city now have the ability to pass along costs for using the Jaws of Life to remove someone pinned inside a vehicle in an auto accident, sending out the dive team for a drowning, or to rescue a worker trapped in a trench collapse.

Wheaton is not the first community to impose a fee on emergency procedures. Glen Ellyn and Addison have created similar ordinances since a state law enacted in 2007 allowed municipalities recoup certain costs.

It comes during tough economic times when more municipalities are looking to new fees and charges as a way to generate new revenue and stabilize weak budgets.

In Wheaton's case, fire officials say they're not looking to make money, only to save residents from bearing the costs of expensive, labor-intensive rescues.

That's prudent bureaucratic thinking, to be sure.

Wheaton Fire Chief Gregory Berk said a trench rescue could take eight to 10 hours, and involve 100 firefighters.

"It's not fair," he said. "It should be borne by the people who cause the incident."

Still, the ordinance and surrounding issue raise some prickly questions.

Aren't rescues and saving lives a big part of what fire departments and their personnel are funded to do?

Don't fire departments have specialized equipment on hand for just such emergencies?

Will the prospect of being hit with a big bill cause some people to delay the rescue call, and try to handle it themselves?

If that happens, the result would be even more tragic.

Are there cases, when recouping the cost would be appropriate? Sure.

Advocates will argue the drunken driver who causes the accident should pay the associated costs. Countryside and Newport Township fire districts in Lake County have done so for years.

But will the same approach work for the family of a teenager who swims out too far in a lake and goes under?

As for communities with such laws in place, Glen Ellyn has never charged anyone for a rescue, and they don't bill for vehicle extrications. Addison has billed for car extrications for years, but only nonresidents.

Philosophically, how is this any different from saying everyone should pay taxes to their respective school districts, but pay more if they actually send a child to school?

While user fees are appropriate in some arenas, they shouldn't have a place in bedrock government services, such as schools and public safety.

Those are services the greater community should bear.