A Queens councilman yesterday moved to outlaw the FDNY’s new plan to charge motorists for responding to accidents — calling the plan “nuts.”

“I don’t think that people should have to factor in the cost of lifesaving when they make a call. Nine-one-one has always been free and it needs to stay that way,” fumed Councilman Peter Vallone Jr. (D-Queens) in telling The Post of his proposed legislation to bar such a move.

“What’s next, the Police Department coming in and saying, ‘There’s too much shoplifting at your store. We’re going to charge you the next time we have to come here’?” Vallone asked.

The FDNY — with Mayor Bloomberg’s approval — on Thursday gave notice that starting July 1 it will charge drivers involved in crashes and other incidents fees of anywhere from $365 to $490, depending on whether they involve injuries or fires.

The FDNY estimates the fees would generate $1 million annually. The department also said it does not need City Council approval to implement the new fees, which could be waived at its discretion in faultless cases, such as a fallen tree branch hitting a car.

But Vallone, after reading about the FDNY’s fees, said, “That’s nuts.”

“Our Police and Fire Department shouldn’t be coming up with the equivalent of menus [of fees] to attempt to save money,” said Vallone, chairman of the council’s Public Safety Committee.

He said his proposed legislation would bar the FDNY, NYPD and any other public-safety agency from charging fees for responding to calls currently covered by existing tax payments.

Mario Juarez, 21, a salesman and driver from Queens, said, “I don’t even know why they’re considering” charging fees. “You have a hospital bill, and now this? They’re trying to benefit off of people’s misfortune.”

But Bloomberg, on his WOR-AM radio show, noted that such fees have been adopted elsewhere, including several dozen California municipalities.

“The Fire Department has to do more with less,” Bloomberg said “Most of the Fire Department’s expense, as in all agencies, is salary and pensions. Pension costs are getting worse and worse and worse. Would you like them to close firehouses or would you like them to have less technology? I don’t think so. So we’ve go to raise the money.”

Bloomberg spokesman Jason Post said, “The choices are between a smaller Fire Department, higher taxes or creative solutions that shift costs from taxpayers to responsible parties.”

Bob Passmore of the Property Casualty Insurers Association of America noted that the kind of fees proposed by the FDNY “aren’t always covered by insurance,” and that if they are, insurers will end up passing along the cost to drivers in increased premiums.

(Source: NY Post)