[Adopted 10-11-2017 by Ord. No. 2017-11; amended in its entirety 7-27-2022 by Ord. No. 2022-12]
As used in this article, the following terms shall have the
meanings indicated:
Any of the three fire companies within Mansfield Township.
A natural person or persons, partnership, corporation, association,
firm or other legal entity.
The person having received emergency services provided by
the Fire Department.
The purpose of this article is to provide authority, procedures
and requirements to seek collection and reimbursement for the reasonable
costs of responding to such incidents by the Fire Department for fire
service calls, hazardous material incidents, environmental incidents,
and safety and rescue incidents coordinated via Warren County Dispatch
and 911 responses, and those that use hazardous material abatement
equipment and materials are also eligible for reimbursement.
The Township Committee of the Township of Mansfield authorizes
the Fire Department to recover the real and reasonable costs incurred
for firefighting materials or equipment used and expended; the costs
of the use of fire trucks, fire engines, rescue equipment, tankers
and other vehicles; the costs of hazardous situation abatement materials
involved in any fire, safety and rescue incident or operation, and
hazardous abatement incident, including vehicular accidents or fires.
A.
The Township of Mansfield recognizes the Fire Department's need
to bill for volunteer fire, rescue and hazmat services to aid in the
provision of emergency services.
B.
No person requiring emergency services shall be denied services due
to lack of insurance or ability to pay.
C.
Billing shall only occur if the Township's Crash Truck is on
scene.
D.
Any applicable charges for volunteer emergency services rendered
shall be billed directly to the user of such services or the user's
insurance company.
E.
The Fire Department, through any third-party billing agency with
which it has contracted for billing and/or collections for volunteer
fire, rescue and hazmat services, makes arrangements with users of
such services and/or their financially responsible party for the installment
payment of bills.
F.
The Fire Department shall provide financial reporting to the Township
of Mansfield on a quarterly basis of:
(1)
The opening balance of funds on hand.
(2)
Amount of billings issued by the third-party biller.
(3)
Amount of collections in satisfaction of billings issued.
(4)
A detailed listing of any amounts disbursed, including the vendor
and purpose of disbursement.
(5)
The ending balance of funds on hand.
A.
The Fire Department is hereby authorized to enter into a contract
with a third-party billing agency and/or collection agency for the
performance of emergency, rescue and hazmat services billing and/or
collection services, provided that the following standards for third-party
billing are met:
(1)
The third-party billing service is to be provided at a rate not to
exceed 20% of fees collected or at an amount consistent with the fair
market value for the services rendered.
(2)
Neither the billing agency nor any of its employees are subject to
exclusion for any user fee.
(3)
The billing agency is bonded and/or insured in amounts satisfactory
to the Township of Mansfield.
(4)
The Fire Department shall solicit competitive proposals for the provision
of third-party billing services at least once every three years to
ensure these services are provided at the lowest competitive cost.
All documentation of this process shall be provided to the Township
of Mansfield for review.
B.
The Fire Department may, at its discretion, bill additionally for
material and vehicle costs in the case of any major, extraordinary
or unique incidents, including, but not limited to, hazardous material
spills, fire emergency and rescue incidents that destroy or severely
damage emergency services equipment.
C.
User fees.
(1)
Volunteer fire and rescue services shall initiate user fees for the
delivery of emergency services, supplies and equipment to the scene
of any hazardous material incident, environmental incident or safety
and rescue incident or operation, including vehicular accidents and
fires that occur and are responded to by the Fire Department.
(2)
Every person and/or utility that is provided with volunteer emergency,
rescue and hazmat services shall be billed a user fee in accordance
with this article.
(3)
The user fee for volunteer emergency services rendered shall be billed
directly to the user of such services' insurance company. If
the insurance company is not known, the user of services shall be
billed directly, with instructions to forward the bill to his/her
insurance provider.
(4)
Any and all amounts collected as a result of this article shall be
used exclusively for the replacement or maintenance of Fire Department
emergency services materials, equipment and training.
(5)
The Township Committee hereby adopts the rates set forth in the Rate
and Fee Schedule attached hereto and by this reference incorporated
within this article as Appendix A.[1] Such rates and fees, other than penalties for late payments,
shall not be imposed as a penalty, but shall be calculated to recover
the reasonable estimate of the actual cost to the Fire Department.
The Township Committee may, from time to time, amend the Rate and
Fee Schedule by resolution.
[1]
Editor's Note: Appendix A is on file in the Township
offices.
