Nevada's odd way to fix the state budget!

[remphish1]

http://www.fox5vegas.com/news/16098195/detail.html

 

This is pretty crass...anyone agree? Sure she has pleanty of money but when she is suffering over the loss of her husband! I have a feeling though they spent more money then if the search was for an average joe.

[deepseacatfish]

I don't really think they ought to do this, though I don't know the legal ground for/against it.

 

To me it doesn't matter whether they spent more money than they should have, or if she has money, or whatever. If it gets approved it sets the precedent that they could "bill" you for any state provided services. Like if you had a family member who went missing, or if a relative was a criminal and they mounted an expensive man-hunt or whatever. I just think it's not something I'd want to set, regardless of the fiscal issues.

[JUDE]

You can be charged for some state provided services.

 

Someone set my neighbors garbage can on fire and he was charged for the fire call.

 

True story.

[gogo]

I've heard of it being done before, when skiers go missing in an area where they knew they weren't supposed to be in the first place, etc. I guess the theory is that when people put themselves in a situation where they could have reasonably anticipated that this would be the outcome, they should have to pay for services which are above and beyond what would have been spent on people who weren't such idiots.

 

I don't know that that's the reasoning being used here, but I have heard of that before.

[MrRain422]

It's kind of bullshit for them to come out with this so far after the fact, but I think some states have laws regarding things like this on the books already, in which case it isn't quite so ridiculous. In Michigan, for example, every year there are a few people who try to go ice fishing too early in the year before the ice is thick enough and end up stuck on an ice floe in the middle of one of the Great Lakes and need to be rescued. So a couple of years ago they passed a law that you only get one free rescue for something like that -- if you're dumb enough to get stuck on an ice floe a second time, then the rescue is on your dime. Seems pretty reasonable considering how much it costs the taxpayers, and how stupid you have to be to have this happen a second time.

 

It sounds as though this guy lived a lifestyle that was full of risk, which is fine, but at the same time, I don't know that taxpayers should have to be responsible for trying to rescue him when one of his many, many huge risks fails. But I do feel uneasy about them going back a year later and sending her this bill. Seems like that should be something that you write into law (and define very, very specifically what kind of rescue operations it applies to) and then proceed with it in future cases.

[deepseacatfish]

Wacky. I mean I believe it, but in a situation like this it seems a little morally dodgy to me.

 

I'd rather pay taxes and call it a day. Some people couldn't afford to pay for searches or even that fire call.

[deepseacatfish]

Seems like that should be something that you write into law (and define very, very specifically what kind of rescue operations it applies to) and then proceed with it in future cases.

I think that's pretty reasonable.

 

I would agree that in cases where reasonable safety measures were ignored the state shouldn't have to foot the bill...but I think those terms need to be defined in advance and the state has to decide what a reasonable amount of money/time/people for a given search is...and then provide that, and charge if extra is requested.

[John Smith]

This stuff happens all the time. Usually the bereaved never know as the governing body quietly files a claim with the insurance company for recovery of their costs. We used to do it all the time when I was a rescue diver, our fire department does it. This is nothing new and pretty much a non-issue.

[deepseacatfish]

Huh, well it's news to me. Good to know though, in case I ever get a bill.

[bjorn_skurj]

Huh, well it's news to me. Good to know though, in case I ever get a bill.

Well, then, don't get stuck on an ice floe or fly your experimental plane into the desert!

[Good Old Neon]

I

[caliber66]

And once again, we take a perfectly good thread and turn it into something entirely different according to our own agenda.

[Good Old Neon]

I was only being half serious

[caliber66]

Start a thread about it.

[bjorn_skurj]

When JFK Jr. nose-dived his plane into the ocean, I remember watching like half the U.S. Navy go looking for him and saying to myself, "If that was Dan Barton in that plane, I might get a guy in a dinghy."