Ventura residents who chose to pay the city's "emergency communication system service fee" on a per-call basis should examine their telephone bills for the next few months. They might be charged the monthly fee of $1.49 they opted out of paying.

In an e-mail, city officials stated refunds will be sent in the fall to residents who opted out of paying the monthly fee, but are charged anyway.

In the e-mail, city officials explained: "The charges would occur if the service provider experiences a delay between the implementation of the fee and the integration of customer records." They said the problem is confined to only a few service providers.

In opposing the 911 fee, The Star Editorial Board anticipated numerous problems, and wondered if the cost and difficulty of administering it was worth it, not to mention the bad will it would generate.

We are not wondering any more.

If service providers need time to integrate customer records, then the fee should not be collected until they are all ready.

It is hard even to imagine it would take long to integrate customer records in this era of instant communication, even if 27,000 phone lines are on the fee-per-call list.

After all, one can order a computer online at 7 p.m. and have it delivered to a home or business before noon the next day.

This is one more hiccup in a plan that was poorly thought through and now poorly implemented.

The Star Editorial Board opposed the fee from the start because:

— Offering residents a "choice" of paying a per-call 911 fee versus a monthly fee is a slick way for the city to avoid the legal obstacles other California cities have encountered in implementing similar fees.

— In 2006, voters defeated Measure P6 — a quarter-cent sales tax increase — that would have allowed the city of Ventura to hire more police and firefighters. Instead of trying again or shooting for an increase that requires only a majority voter approval, instead of a two-thirds' voter approval, the city did an end run around the electorate. The 911 fee was voted in on a simple majority vote of the seven-person City Council.

— City Council initially tried to coerce the public into accepting the fee by saying those who did not want to pay the monthly fee would have to pay $50 for each 911 call. Thankfully, the City Council lowered the per-call fee to $17.88, the same amount someone charged the $1.49-a-month fee pays in one year.

Even the Ventura County Grand Jury took Ventura to task by telling the city more opt-out publicity is needed. It urged Ventura to notify phone subscribers yearly by mail of the two-week opt-out window in May.

The Star Editorial Board has opposed the 911 fee from the beginning because we believe such a vital, basic service as 911 should be covered by the taxes residents already pay. Short of a future council rescinding the fee, though, Ventura residents are stuck with it. The least the city of Ventura can do is make sure it gets it right.