FARMINGTON – Town Manager Richard Davis does not expect a quorum of selectmen to make a decision on charging for certain fire and rescue calls at tonight’s meeting. Two members will not be present, he said Monday.
According to Davis, selectmen asked Fire Chief Terry Bell to research charging accident victims for the cost of extrication and cleanup after a motor vehicle accident. The town already has a policy in place allowing them to charge for repeated alarm malfunctions – three in one year could result in a fine. Bell said they charge two or three property owners annually for faulty alarms.
The town is also statutorily allowed to charge for unpermitted burning and hazardous waste cleanups, but these fines are rarely levied, according to Bell. Money from all such collections goes into the town’s general fund.
Charges for any of these calls amount to 0.1 percent of the value of responding apparatus plus an hourly rate per responding firefighter. The department’s most expensive apparatus is its newest pumper, he said. At $371,000, its response would render a $371 charge plus, if the new proposal goes through, $15 per hour per firefighter. In most cases, selectmen believe insurance will cover the costs.
According to Davis, who researched the legality of charging for car accidents, the Maine Municipal Association recommended the town pass an ordinance for the new policy which would need to be approved at a town meeting. No such local ordinance exists for malfunctioning alarm calls, but cost recovery for hazardous waste cleanup and unpermitted burns are mandated at either the state or federal level, according to Bell. With two selectmen expected to be absent tonight, Davis does not think selectmen will make any final decisions on the issue.
Though Bell did the research, he doesn’t agree with the proposed policy.
“You ought to get something for your tax dollars,” he said Monday.
He said Assistant Chief Barry Norris from Union recently told him that, though that town has an extrication-charge ordinance, it does not charge local property owners for the service.
Livermore, Livermore Falls and Auburn fire departments all charge for extrication, Bell said. Some departments, Freeport for one, even charge for structure fires, he added.
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