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Resident questions legality of browning out Medic 72 and cites dedicated ambulance parcel tax
Summary
During public comment a resident said she believed a 1976 parcel tax funds paramedic ambulance services and questioned the legality and political use of a decision to 'brown out' Medic 72; city staff declined to answer complex legal questions during non‑agenda public comment and offered a follow‑up meeting.
Resident Alicia Minion addressed the council during the public comment period to question the decision to brown out Medic 72 and to press the city attorney’s office and council for clarification. Minion said voters have passed dedicated parcel taxes to fund paramedic ambulance services in Vacaville and that other local revenue sources—Community Facilities District assessments (CFD), Measure I water excise, Measure M sales tax and ambulance billing reimbursements—also fund emergency services. She asked whether it is legal to reduce ambulance staffing given those dedicated funding streams and whether the brownout was being used for political advantage.
“I question the legality of browning out an ambulance for several reasons,” Minion told the council, citing a parcel tax she said passed in November 1976 and other dedicated revenue sources. She also said browning out Medic 72 had happened previously and was used politically during the 2022 election season.
City staff said the meeting’s non‑agenda public comment period did not permit a detailed response but offered to meet with Minion and to provide staff contact information to address her legal and technical questions.
What happens next: Staff indicated they would follow up with the resident outside of the meeting to provide more detailed answers and that the topic could be brought back on a future agenda if legal or policy issues require council action.
