John Hill, Staff Writer, The Press Enterprise, [email protected]

A proposed $350 emergency medical fee was debated by the Murrieta City Council on Tuesday evening, July 3.

The council had not voted on the fee, proposed to help balance the Murrieta Fire Department’s budget, as of 9 p.m.

Under the plan, people who call 911 and receive paramedic care from Murrieta firefighters would be charged a $350 fee. Residents and business owners who pay a $48 annual “subscription” fee could avoid the per-call charge.

Murrieta Fire Chief Matt Shobert urged the council to pass the fee, painting a grim picture of the Fire Department’s finances without it.

City officials estimate the fee could bring in as much as $400,000. Murrieta’s $11.4 million fire budget, which the council was scheduled to discuss later in the night, has a $700,000 gap.

Without extra revenue, Shobert said the Fire Department risked being forced into “drastic cuts.” Options, he said, would include rolling blackouts – a system in which fire stations go dark on a rotating basis – or shutting one of Murrieta’s five stations.

“Decisions like which fire station to close keep me up at night,” the chief said.

He and several firefighters who spoke during the meeting said the city should have implemented an emergency response fee a decade ago when it started its paramedic program.

Shobert said the Fire Department had already cut expenses by $2 million. Overtime, training and a half-dozen administrative jobs have been cut, and firefighters have agreed to 5 percent pay cuts.

The fee is scheduled to decrease as the city’s finances recover, and would go away if Murrieta’s tax revenue climbs 15 percent higher than pre-recession levels.

Residents speaking on the issue were about evenly split.

Al Coyte said his golfing buddy had a heart attack two weeks ago on the eighth hole at Bear Creek and he was thankful how fast firefighters got to the scene.

“If we need to do it and charge the fee, then let’s do it and maintain the ability to continue saving lives,” Coyte said.

Others, like Jackie Fenaroli, said the city should find other ways to plug the Fire Department’s budget gap. She said the city shouldn’t have built its fifth fire station, near her home, a few years ago during the middle of a recession.

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