[Adopted 3-26-2019 by Ord. No. 2019-4]
As used in this article, the following terns shall have the meanings indicated:
FIRE DEPARTMENT
The Reliance Fire Company.
PERSON
A natural person or persons, partnership, corporation, association, firm or other legal entity.
RESPONSIBLE PARTY
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 Salem County Dispatch and 911 responses, and those that use hazardous material abatement equipment and materials are also eligible for reimbursement.
The governing body of the Borough of Woodstown authorizes the Fire Department and/or Borough of Woodstown 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 Borough of Woodstown 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. 
Any applicable charges for volunteer emergency services rendered shall be billed directly to the user of such services or the user's insurance company.
D. 
The Borough of Woodstown and/or the Fire Department may, either directly or 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.
E. 
The Fire Department shall provide a financial reporting to the Borough of Woodtown's Chief Financial Officer on a semiannual 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 Borough of Woodstown and/or 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 Borough of Woodstown.
(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 Borough of Woodstown for review.
B. 
The Borough of Woodstown and/or 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 Borough of Woodstown may implement rules and/or regulations and/or revoke or amend existing rules and/or regulations as may be deemed necessary for the billing and/or collection and use of user fees pursuant to this article.
D. 
Uncollectable accounts.
(1) 
The user fee is anticipated to be paid by the user's insurance company. In the instance where the Borough of Woodstown and/or the Fire Department receives notification from the insurance carrier that it will not honor the invoice, the Borough of Woodstown and/or Fire Department is authorized to invoice the responsible party directly and take any legal action necessary to collect the fee(s), including negotiating a settlement.
(2) 
The Borough of Woodstown and/or Fire Department may, at its discretion, write off the uncollected fee amounts as a bad debt, without prejudice to the responsible party.
(3) 
Should the Borough of Woodstown and/or Fire Department determine that an insurance carrier has remitted the fee to the responsible party involved and that the party has failed to remit the fee, the Borough of Woodstown and/or Fire Department are authorized to pursue all legal means and appropriate action in order to collect the account.
Nothing in this article shall be construed to affect any suit or proceeding impending in any court, or any rights acquired, or liability incurred, or any cause of action acquired or existing, under any act or ordinance hereby; nor shall any just or legal right or remedy or any character be lost, impaired or affected by this article.