Despite delaying the due date by nearly a month, households and businesses in Jefferson County will soon have to mail in their first payments for a new ambulance fee instituted by the Jefferson County Commission.
According to the Spirit of Jefferson, residents and business owners in Jefferson County, W.Va. will have until Oct. 31 to pay the fee instead of having to make the payment by Sept. 30. Many people have been willing to pay, as $100,000 has already been collected. However, others have referred to it as a new tax on residents.
Jessica, a resident of Charles Town, W.Va., opposes the new fee. “I am raising two kids. I have trouble just getting by every month. Another tax that I have to pay is not what I needed,” Jessica said.
The Jefferson County Commission approved the fee in September 2013, with Commissioners Walter Pellish, Jane Tabb and Patsy Noland voting in favor of the measure and Commissioners Dale Manuel and Lyn Widmyer voting in opposition to it according to the Herald Mail.
One of the reasons the deadline was extended is because it has taken time for residents of the county to mail in their payments, according to Commissioner Patsy Noland in a Martinsburg Journal article.
“A lot of people didn’t get their bills in the mail until they were almost due,” Noland said.
Residents are required to pay $40 per year while businesses will be billed $80 per year for the ambulance fee. It is intended to help fund fire and emergency medical services in Jefferson County with the goal of collecting $800,000 to supplement the budgets of county emergency services, according to the Martinsburg Journal.
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