Chapter 2.33
AMBULANCE AND EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE UTILITY
Sections:
2.33.050 Rules and regulations.
2.33.060 Private ambulance operation.
2.33.080 Establishment of utility fund.
2.33.100 Collection of utility.
2.33.110 Individual service calls.
2.33.120 Allocation of revenue.
2.33.130 Medicare and Medicaid.
2.33.150 Reduction in residential ambulance fees for low-income customers.
2.33.010 Utility established.
Pursuant to the authority of RCW 35.21.766 as now existing or hereafter amended, and the police powers of the city of Ocean Shores to protect and preserve the public health, safety and welfare, an emergency and ambulance service utility is hereby established by the city of Ocean Shores as a public utility of the city. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.020 Definitions.
For purposes of this chapter, the following terms shall have the following meanings:
A. “Ambulance” means a ground vehicle designed and used to transport the ill and injured and to provide personnel, facilities, and equipment to treat patients before and during transportation.
B. “Ambulance service” or “ambulance operator” means an agency, public or private, that operates one or more ambulances, responding to a 911 or aid call for service, including advanced life support, basic life support and transport services.
C. “Dispatch” means the Grays Harbor E911 Dispatch Center.
D. “Emergency medical care” or “emergency medical service” means medical treatment and care which may be rendered at the scene of any medical emergency or while transporting any patient in an ambulance to an appropriate medical facility, including ambulance transportation between medical facilities.
E. “Operate an ambulance” means the use of an ambulance in any of the following manners:
1. An ambulance stationed within the city.
2. An ambulance dispatched from within or without the city of Ocean Shores city limits which repeatedly or customarily makes trips for hire to pick up the sick or injured.
F. “Person(s)” means any individual, firm, partnership, association, corporation, company, group of individuals acting together for a common purpose, or organization of any kind, including a government agency.
G. “Utility fee” means the monthly fee levied by the utility upon persons within the boundaries of the city.
H. “System” means the entire system of ambulance services provided by the utility or over which the utility has regulatory control by virtue of contract, franchise, or other service agreement or arrangement legally recognized by the city.
I. “Unit” means the unit of occupancy for each utility user classification. The unit of occupancy for assisted living and nursing home facilities shall be beds rented or leased on an individual basis.
J. “Utility” means the city of Ocean Shores ambulance and emergency medical services utility, including without limitation all equipment, employees, agents, supplies, overhead and other associated costs incurred to deliver all regulatory and ambulance services.
(Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.030 Purpose.
The purpose of the utility is to regulate users and providers of all ambulance services; to generate revenue to assist in paying for the regulatory scheme authorized by this chapter; to ensure twenty-four-hour emergency medical and advanced life support service; to assist in paying for the particular benefits conferred upon residents and other occupants within the city; and to mitigate the burdens on the system by the different users of the system. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.040 Operation.
The utility shall be operated by the fire department and the city treasurer shall have the authority to collect utility fees and spend fee revenue as authorized by the city council. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.050 Rules and regulations.
The fire chief, or the chief’s designee, is hereby authorized to promulgate any and all regulations necessary to implement the provisions of this chapter including that all public and private ambulance providers retain highly trained, qualified and experienced personnel; maintain appropriate certifications and qualifications, ensure appropriate fleet management and equipment maintenance; satisfy minimum emergency vehicle specifications; ensure response times that protect the public health, welfare and benefit of all Ocean Shores residents, businesses and other ambulance customers; deliver a level of care service consistent with or exceeding industry standards; comply with transport protocols; provide procedures for customer inquiries and complaints and ensure coordination with Grays Harbor E911 dispatch and other public safety communications. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.060 Private ambulance operation.
No person shall operate, or cause to be operated, an ambulance in the city without first securing a business license in accordance with Title 5. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.070 Display of license.
Each ambulance licensed pursuant to the terms of this chapter shall contain the business license or a reasonable facsimile thereof, prominently displayed in the interior of the ambulance in a position where the same may be seen and read by any person. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.080 Establishment of utility fund.
There is created in the office of the city treasurer a special fund for the operation of the utility and all fees collected under the provisions of this chapter shall be deposited and placed in said fund and shall be disbursed as the city council of the city of Ocean Shores may from time to time direct. Expenditures from the fund shall be made only for the establishment, maintenance, operation and capital needs of the utility. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.090 Utility fee.
A. Monthly Utility Fee Formula. A monthly utility fee for the operation of the utility shall be established from time to time by resolution of the city council in conformity with RCW 35.21.766, as now or hereafter amended. The amount of the fee shall be based upon cost of regulating ambulance service and the cost of providing utility services as determined by a cost-of-service study pursuant to RCW 35.21.766(3). Those costs shall be divided among Ocean Shores residents and occupants based on a combined demand and availability calculation consistent with accepted principles of utility rate setting. The rate attributable to costs for availability of the utility shall be uniformly applied across user classifications within the utility. The rate attributable to costs for demand services of the utility shall be established and billed to each utility user classification based on each user classification’s burden on the utility. The fee charged by the utility shall reflect a combination of the availability cost and the demand cost. The resulting fee shall be assessed to identifiable use classifications. Fees will not exceed the revenue requirements to cover the costs of the utility, as authorized by the city council by adoption of an annual budget and subsequent amendments.
B. Classifications. The monthly utility fee shall be collected from each of the following utility user classifications:
1. Single-family;
2. Multifamily;
3. Commercial/retail;
4. Hotel/motel;
5. Industrial;
6. Assisted living/nursing homes;
7. Housing authority;
8. Other governments;
9. City of Ocean Shores.
The owner or occupant of each unit in such classifications shall be responsible for payment of this utility fee for the availability and use of ambulance services.
C. Utility Fee Exemptions—Reductions.
1. All vacant, unoccupied parcels are exempt from the utility fee.
2. Persons who are Medicaid eligible and who reside in a nursing facility, boarding home, adult family home or receive in-home services are exempt from the utility fee, pursuant to RCW 35.21.766(4)(d)(i).
3. Any change in use of a parcel or any other change in circumstance that eliminates application of an exemption from the utility fee shall immediately make the affected property subject to applicable utility fees. The utility fee shall become due and payable as of the date of the change in use and shall continue until the parcel again meets exemption requirements.
4. Monthly rates shall not be prorated. Initial and final charges may be prorated in accordance with the city’s standard utility prorating practices.
5. Any customer seeking an exemption from payment of the utility fee, and/or conversion from covered to exempt status, must file a written petition with the city treasurer seeking a determination as to whether a specific parcel satisfies the exemption requirements set forth in this section. The city treasurer’s determination may be appealed to the city council.
6. The combined rates charged shall reflect an exemption for persons who are Medicaid eligible and who reside in a nursing facility, boarding home, adult family home, or receive in-home services.
7. The combined rates charged may reflect an exemption or reduction for designated classes consistent with Article VIII, Section 7 of the State Constitution.
8. The amounts of exemption or reduction shall be a general expense of the utility, and designated as an availability cost, to be spread uniformly across the utility user classifications.
D. Periodic Utility Fee Review. The city treasurer, or the city treasurer’s designee, shall periodically perform financial review and analysis of the utility’s revenues, expenses, indebtedness, fees and accounting, and recommend budgets, fee adjustments and financial policy. Based on such review, the city treasurer shall recommend changes, amendments or additions for adoption by the city council.
E. Limitation on Total Revenue. The total revenue generated by the rates and fees shall not exceed the total costs necessary to regulate, operate, and maintain an ambulance utility.
F. Sunset of Assessment of Utility Fee. Unless extended by further action of the city council, the assessment of the above utility fee shall terminate at midnight on March 31, 2011; nothing herein shall impair collection of any unpaid utility fees after that date.
(Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.100 Collection of utility.
The monthly utility fee for the utility shall be collected in the same manner as city utility bills are currently or hereafter collected. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.110 Individual service calls.
All fees and charges for individual service calls of ambulances and emergency medical services operated by the utility shall be set by resolution and shall be in addition to the monthly utility fees set under this chapter. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.120 Allocation of revenue.
All revenue collected under Section 2.33.090 shall be allocated to demand-related costs of the utility. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.130 Medicare and Medicaid.
This chapter shall be construed and implemented to be consistent with applicable Medicare and Medicaid requirements. If any regulation or procedure adopted under this chapter for the purposes of establishing, implementing, imposing or collecting charges for ambulance service is found or determined to be in conflict with Medicare or Medicaid requirements, the conflicting part of this chapter shall be inoperative to the extent of the conflict and such finding or determination shall not affect the operation of the remainder of this chapter. (Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.140 Violations.
A. Criminal Violations. Failure to comply with any provision of this chapter or regulation adopted by the fire chief, or the chief’s designee, under Section 2.33.050 is a misdemeanor chargeable under Section 1.20.010.
B. Civil Violations. In addition or as an alternative to criminal prosecution, the fire chief, or the chief’s designee, may issue a civil infraction under Chapter 7.01 for willful failure to pay a service fee imposed under this chapter. A penalty equal to one hundred dollar or three times the value of any unpaid utility fee(s), whichever is greater, may be imposed; provided, however, that no penalty shall be assessed for an unpaid utility fee until the city has provided thirty days’ notice to the occupant of such outstanding obligation and the occupant fails to cure such unpaid utility fee(s) within the thirty-day period.
(Ord. 874 § 1 (part), 2009)
2.33.150 Reduction in residential ambulance fees for low-income customers.
A. Definitions.
“Total yearly household income” means total household income of all people living in the household. This includes, but is not limited to, wages, Social Security less deductions and amount paid directly to nursing home for care of spouse or amount paid for in home care, retirement benefits, veteran’s benefits, pensions and annuities, unemployment, L&I benefits, interest, dividends, capital gains, etc., without adjustment for any business or other losses or expenses.
B. Residential customers whose qualifying income is at or below one hundred twenty-five percent of the currently available national poverty guideline as established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be entitled to a reduction of the ambulance utility fee established in Section 2.33.090.
C. Qualifying income shall be the total yearly household income of all of the people living in the residence for the calendar year immediately preceding the year the reduction is applied for.
D. For those residential customers who qualify under the provisions of subsections (B) and (C) of this section, the ambulance fee established under Section 2.33.090 shall be fixed at the rate of one-half of the amount established under Section 2.33.090.
E. Such a reduction in the ambulance utility fee shall take effect on the first day of the month following the receipt of a written request from the residential customers together with copies of their Internal Revenue tax forms as detailed in subsection (C) of this section.
F. An approved application for reduction in the ambulance utility fee under the provisions of this section shall be valid for a term of twelve months. No sooner than thirty days before, nor later than thirty days after the expiration of that term, the residential customer may reapply for an additional twelve-month term. The process for the submission, review and approval of that renewal shall be the same as for the initial application.
G. The reduction in the ambulance utility fee under this section shall only be available to noncommercial customers.
H. This section shall apply to those residential customers who qualify beginning April 1, 2013. Any eligible refund must be requested by December 31, 2013, and shall be applied as a credit toward the residential customer’s future utility bill.
(Ord. 1086 § 1, 2022; Ord. 923 § 1, 2013)