Support Carbondale Fire
Dear Editor:
Please vote yes on ballot issue #7B and #7C.
The Carbondale Fire District protects our properties from fire and provides advanced level ambulance service to our community.
Led by Fire Chief Rob Goodwin, the highly trained and dedicated firefighters and EMTs of the Fire District deserve the best equipment and training we as taxpayers can provide. Please support our Fire Department on election day!!
Ron & Lise Leach
Marble
The cost of ambulance service
Dear Editor:
Before voting, I spent some time reviewing the ballot proposals 7B and 7C for additional funding for the Carbondale Fire Protection district operations and capital expenses.
As we all know, they also provide ambulance service. Just to check, I called and spoke to their finance manager and I was very surprised to find out that if they respond to a medical emergency that requires taking someone to Valley View Hospital (our closest hospital) they charge a $855 dollar fee for the service in addition to all the taxes we pay to support them.
I find this very surprising and against the concept of a taxpayer-supported emergency service provider — which I am all for. This significant user fee is not well known and it is not included in any of the documentation provided with the ballot or the department website. I bet a lot of people assume that our tax money includes all the emergency services they provide including ambulance. They plan to keep this user fee in place even if we all approve their significant funding increase.
More important, I believe this has potentially dangerous implications. I already heard from a medical professional in the area that some people hesitate to call the ambulance because they worry about the ambulance bill. So could we have someone with high insurance deductible hesitate to call the ambulance in a medical emergency, with potentially tragic results ? I personally do not want to see this happen.
Why do they not adjust the tax rate so it is included in the taxes we all pay to cover their other services? It could be a life-saving move.
John Krousouloudis
Carbondale
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