This article shall be known as the "Fermanagh Township Emergency Service Cost Reimbursement Ordinance."
[HISTORY: Adopted by the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Fermanagh as indicated in article histories. Amendments noted where applicable.]
[Adopted 8-7-2017 by Ord. No. 3-2017]
A.
Authority. Under Sections 1506, 1801, 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805, and 1806 of the Second Class Code of Pennsylvania, as amended,[1] the Township of Fermanagh, Juniata County, PA, has the authority to make provisions for and rules and regulations for the government of public safety and/or fire companies located within or serving the Township of Fermanagh, Juniata County, PA.
B.
Findings. It is recognized that the duties of fire companies require specialized fire/safety/emergency/rescue/environmental/hazardous material tools, equipment, materials, supplies and specialized training in order to provide for the safety of the public served. Such required responses, as well as the response to emergency situations involving, and/or caused by, resident and/or nonresident individuals, places a tremendous financial burden on said fire companies. While taxes, if applicable, may provide the fire companies sufficient financial assistance to exist, in an effort to avoid ever-increasing tax burdens of the residents of the Township of Fermanagh, Juniata County, PA, it is found that the alternative source of funding known as emergency service cost reimbursement (i.e., response billing) should be authorized.
C.
Purpose. To grant the above emergency responders, operating in the Township of Fermanagh, Juniata County, PA (hereinafter "emergency responders"), the authority to seek reimbursement for the reasonable cost of responding to such incidents, as well as the reasonable costs to recoup such costs.
A.
The emergency responders are authorized to recover the reasonable costs of the use of emergency fire and/or rescue (including, but not limited to, vehicle accidents) personnel hours, tools, equipment, materials and vehicles; hazardous material and/or environmental response personnel hours, tools, equipment, materials and vehicles; and reasonable interest on any amount due from the date of the response forward. Additionally, the emergency responders are authorized to collect a reasonable flat-rate fee for any false alarm responses or fire drill responses for which the emergency responders did not receive at least 48 hours' prior notice. Nothing in this article shall be interpreted as limiting any amounts the emergency responders are authorized to collect under any applicable state statute or law.
B.
The reasonable costs authorized to be billed for under this article may be recovered directly by the emergency responders or through a third party billing service as an authorized agent for the collection of such costs.
C.
The reimbursement rates for the aforementioned costs are established in "Attachment A"[1] hereinafter and may be amended from time to time hereafter by resolution of the Board of Supervisors of the Township of Fermanagh, Juniata County, PA.
[1]
Editor's Note: Said attachment is on file in Township offices.
D.
If a third-party billing service is utilized, said third-party billing service shall be authorized to charge a service charge in addition to the costs it is recovering for the emergency responders. Said service charge will be set by the third-party billing service.
E.
In the event that collection costs and/or attorney's fees are incurred by the emergency responders or third-party billing service as a result of the efforts required to obtain full reimbursement for the costs billed for under this article, said collection costs and/or attorney's fees may be recovered by the emergency responders or third party billing service from the party responsible for the costs originally billed for under this article.
A.
All ordinances, parts of ordinances, and amendments thereof which are inconsistent with this article are hereby repealed.
B.
If any section, paragraph, subsection, clause or provision of this article shall be declared invalid or unconstitutional by a court of competent jurisdiction, such decision shall not affect the validity of this article as a whole or any part thereof other than that portion specifically declared invalid.
Costs authorized to be billed under this article may be billed from a retroactive date of not more than 30 days preceding the effective date of this article, which is the date of final passage of this article and execution thereof by all proper officials.