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Legislature outlaws accident fees

The Florida legislature last Friday passed a law outlawing imposing fees or seeking reimbursement for costs relating to responder services by municipalities and counties.

The move, effective July 1, will end the year-old fees charged by the city of Gulf Breeze for accidents caused by nonresidents within city limits.

Gulf Breeze resident Janet Mabry spoke against the city fee at council meetings and was a part of the process at the Florida Legislature to outlaw it.

"I remember when I petitioned the council to consider not charging response fees," Mabry said. "It was a divisive issue.

"I knew from working at the capitol that the fees were already a huge problem around the state, and a bill was filed and then withdrawn to prohibit the fees during the 2008 legislative session. I also knew some states had already outlawed the fees.

"When (Gulf Breeze) passed its ordinance, I took my concerns to the next level and joined the movement in Tallahassee to stop the fees."

Mabry is a lobbyist representing clients including Gulf Stream Racetrack, Florida Association of Childcare Workers, Florida Justice Association, American Locksmith, and the Florida State Massage Therapy Association.

She says she is very thankful that she was in a position that she knew how to continue on.

"I am part of the legislative process, so I know the options available beyond the local level. So many others expressed feeling helpless; they lived outside the city and could not convince the council that they did not elect," she said.

Council and staff defended the law as an appropriate way to offset the city-funded expense for accident clearance.

Gulf Breeze City Manager Buz Eddy explained that numerous cities in Florida use the fees to offset city expenses for a force that serves a multitude of commuters and transients.

"Highway 98 is a major factor for traffic control and police response through the city," Eddy said. "Accidents and traffic along Highway 98 take up a lot of our officers' time and resources. We cannot delay response to and the clearance of incidents along the Highway 98 corridor. If we did, it could really pile up."

The Gulf Breeze City Council originally discussed PESR fees in April 2008 and delayed action on May 22 to ensure sufficient public notice. The council finally voted in favor of the fees last June 2. As of March, approximately $12,000 has been collected.

Mabry and her husband were among the greater Gulf Breeze residents who felt that the fees were discriminatory and unfair.

"I thought it was horrible public policy," she said. "In our community, you have to enter the city to take your kids to school, and you have to enter Milton to gain access to the county seat. Both entities were gong to charge these fees. It was not a matter of choosing not to go where these fees were going to be charged."

Insurance companies originally were the primary force behind a state law banning the fees. Problems arose when policy holders passed on the fines and most insurers would not cover them.

Impetus for the state law grew when legislators were made aware of third-party collection vendors encouraging the fee-charging process by soliciting counties and cities for the collection of these accidentresponse fees for a percentage of the recovery, according to Florida Senate brief 2009-303 on the issue.

Cities throughout the state defended the purpose of the ordinance as a means to recover the cost of city-funded fire department and police force response to accidents within the city limits.

Under the Gulf Breeze law, residents of the city and businesses with vehicles registered in the city are exempt of charges, and the $265 Police Emergency Service Response (PESR) fee is charged only in the case of an at-fault ticketing for a traffic offense resulting in the accident.

The Revenue Estimating Conference reported that an estimated $1.5 million in revenue statewide would be lost by local governments currently imposing the fee. Five states have already banned the fees including Missouri, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Indiana and Georgia.

The city of Milton approved the PESR fees totaling $635. The $265 Gulf Breeze fee includes both police and fire and handling fees.