February 8, 2008

Supervisors approve Emergency Response and Disaster Preparedness Fee

The County of Santa Clara Board of Supervisors approved, in a 4-1 vote, the establishment of an Emergency Response and Disaster Preparedness Fee. The $.20-1.01 fee for residential users, $1.50-7.58 per month for a trunk line user, and $4.80-24.24 for high-capacity trunk line users, will recover a portion of costs for providing 9-1-1 emergency communications and disaster preparedness services for residents in the 15 cities and unincorporated areas within the county. In response to concerns expressed by the business community, the County will cap the annual amount to be charged to companies at $10,000, regardless of the number of locations.

Board of Supervisors Chair Pete McHugh did not support the proposed fee. “Emergency preparedness services are a part of the basic compact between the County and residents,” said McHugh. “I would support this if the Board placed the proposal before the voters for approval.”

“The Emergency Response and Disaster Preparedness Fee is designed to recover costs for services used by residents in Santa Clara County. This is not a tax. It is a fee determined by careful analysis of services,” said County Executive Pete Kutras. “More and more, local counties are being called upon by federal and state government to be self-sufficient in disasters and be prepared for disasters. There is a limit to the services we can provide without additional funds.”

“We are a vital economic center for this country,” said Supervisor Liz Kniss, Chair of the Board’s Health and Hospital, and Legislative Committees. “No one will want to hear excuses if we were to have a devastating disaster, they will want this county to have been prepared… Not only prepared to respond to the disaster, but prepared to recover from it as well.”

The proposed fee applies to an estimated 2.3 million telephone lines in Santa Clara County, including land lines, wireless numbers, trunk lines and voice-over-internet protocol (VOIP) access. Approximately 250,000 lines are exempt, including low-income “Lifeline” telephone service customers; pay phones; nonprofit, tax-exempt hospitals; nonprofit, tax-exempt schools; government agencies; and service suppliers.

The ordinance adds approximately $1.56 million for FY08 (May-June 2008) and $9.3 million in revenue annually, approximately 25% of the County’s anticipated expenditures to provide emergency communications and disaster preparedness services.

“We saw this country’s vulnerabilities during the Katrina flood. If we consider global warming, we don’t have a moment to waste,” said Supervisor Blanca Alvarado. “Even the hurricane-force winds we experienced a few weeks ago could have caused a lot more damage and we have an obligation to be prepared.”

While the disaster preparedness cost component of the fee is a flat fee to recover the annual costs for disaster planning and preparation, the emergency communications fee component varies by city based on the level of emergency communications services received by the community. The 15 cities and unincorporated areas of Santa Clara County receive varying levels of service that may include: 9-1-1 call answering, law enforcement dispatching, fire
dispatching, ambulance dispatching, pre-arrival medical instruction, disaster preparedness and backup 9-1-1 call answering.

“Emergency communication and response are essential public services,” said Supervisor Ken Yeager. “However, we need to be mindful to ensure that the ordinance is equitable for both residential and business telephone users throughout the county.”

Revenues from the Emergency Response and Disaster Preparedness Fee Ordinance will recover costs directly associated with services provided by County Communications, the Office of Emergency Services (OES), and Public Health services. OES is responsible for coordinating with County departments, cities and special districts to mitigate against, prepare for, respond to and recover from disasters. This responsibility includes maintaining County and City Emergency Operations Centers in a state of readiness, evaluating training and simulated disaster exercises. As part of its responsibility to coordinate all emergency medical activities in Santa Clara County, the Public Health oversees disaster-medical health planning and response, including multiple-patient management, emergency public health operations and medical-health mutual aid coordination.

“The County has to be able to recover at least a portion of these costs,” said Supervisor Don Gage.