Regarding emergency ambulance fees for owners of collocated rental units
Summary
House Bill 4912 amends West Virginia’s Emergency Ambulance Service Act to clarify how county commissions may impose the special emergency ambulance service fee on lodging businesses. The bill states that hotels, motels, inns, bed-and-breakfasts, and similar overnight accommodations on a single parcel or facility are to be assessed one fee per facility or parcel, rather than multiple fees based on the number of rooms or guests.
The bill also creates a specific rule for cabin and campsite rentals. If cabins or campsites are located on a single parcel or contiguous parcels under common ownership or management, and there are fewer than 12 units, the owner would pay a single fee for the entire property. If there are 12 or more units, county commissions could assess additional fees, but the total could not exceed one fee for each full 12 cabins or campsites. The bill preserves county authority to create reasonable and uniformly applied user classes and differential rates.
Impact
HB4912 would amend §7-15-17 of the West Virginia Code, changing how county commissions calculate and collect special emergency ambulance service fees from lodging properties. It would not eliminate the fee, but would limit how many fees may be imposed on hotels, motels, cabins, and campsites, especially where multiple rental units are collocated on one parcel or under common management. The bill is intended to prevent small lodging operators from being charged disproportionately compared with larger commercial lodging businesses, while still allowing counties to fund emergency ambulance services through the existing special fee structure.
Sentiment
The available context suggests generally favorable sentiment toward the bill’s fairness rationale. The bill’s stated purpose is to treat small cabin and campsite operators more equitably with hotels and motels, indicating support for reducing perceived overassessment of smaller lodging businesses. No committee transcript or vote record is provided, so there is no evidence of formal opposition or recorded debate in the available materials.
Contention
The main point of contention is likely the balance between fee equity for lodging owners and county commission flexibility to raise revenue for emergency ambulance services. Supporters appear to favor limiting multiple fees on small or collocated rental properties, especially cabins and campsites, while counties may be concerned that the new caps reduce fee collections or complicate administration. Another possible issue is how broadly “similar establishments,” “contiguous parcels,” and “common ownership or management” are interpreted, since those definitions affect which properties qualify for reduced assessment.