The Carroll County Board of Supervisors held a public hearing for a new fire fee ordinance at its Sept. 14 meeting, but took no action after several questions arose because of it.

Carroll County Administrator Gary Larrowe explained that the proposed fire fee ordinance would establish fire service fees and charges throughout the county. Larrowe noted that he had spoken to several insurance agencies and they indicated most companies have plans inside their policies that cover certain fire events and fees.

Larrowe said the fire fee structure suggested by the Carroll Emergency Services Board would be $500 for a vehicle fire, $1,000 for a residential structure fire and $1,000 for a commercial structure fire. Vegetation fires would be charged at $100 per acre and $100 per each additional acre, if the ordinance passed. False alarm fees would be imposed for three false alarms in a six-month period at $300 per call.

“This would end up being a soft-billing situation where you would receive your bill parallel to the way you receive EMS bills currently,” Larrowe said. “What they are trying to do is get up to the maximum so you would end up getting the maximum back in for the fire department.”

Pipers Gap Supervisor Dr. Tom Littrell asked if false alarm calls would be covered by insurance. Larrowe said they would not.

“There are certain entities that may have faulty sensors or faulty fire alarm systems. And instead of getting them repaired, they go off prematurely and then they call the fire department and they end up bringing their truck as a result of that at 2 in the morning or whenever that might be to find out it is a false alarm,” Larrowe said. “Of course fire departments go full bore. They are going to be there to solve the problem. They don’t know when it is not a problem. But it costs money to actually roll those trucks.”

Hillsville Volunteer Fire Department Chief Mike Musser was the only person to speak during the public hearing. He said the cost of the fire fighting industry is astronomical. The cost of putting turnout gear on one fire fighter is $2,000, he said, noting HVFD recently was approved by the board of supervisors to purchase a Class A pumper that cost over $200,000.

“We appreciate the opportunity for the board to consider this option of the billing for the fire fee schedule and hope that it will lessen the load of the county for incurring expenses,” Musser said. “While there is funds available through the aid to localities money through the state, that just touches the tip of the iceberg on expenses.”

Speaking on behalf of HVFD, and not the Cana or Laurel Fork fire departments, Musser said the department was cautious about several aspects of the ordinance. They wanted clarification about the billing process and wanted to be sure it would not drive up the cost of insurance premiums for property owners and insurance owners in the case of a fire.

“Speaking on behalf of our membership, we are not in favor of this if it does result in an increase in insurance premiums. Basically we are of the standpoint of we don’t want to kick a person when they are down,” Musser said. “Mr. Larrowe indicated the fee of a structure fire would run around $1,000. We don’t want someone to lose their home to a fire and then in 30 to 60 days get a bill for $1,000.”

The source of revenue from the fire fees will generate hundreds of thousands of dollars eventually, Musser said. But he said the department wanted to request education be provided to the citizens of the county about what their responsibilities are on a soft billing issue.

“If the bill goes out for $1,000 on a structure fire and they get the bill themselves, are they responsible for a portion of that bill? Do they understand that bill is for an insurance company and not necessarily for them? So those are some issues we are asking on behalf of our department to be clarified,” Musser said. “We don’t want to be associated with revenue collectors, that we go out and run fire calls for the purpose of getting money. That is not what we are about. Our mission is to provide safety and protection of lives and property for citizens of the county. We do realize that economic times are tough, but we do recognize the opportunity to gain funds through that revenue source.”

Musser also wanted the public to know that the fire department was not in favor of the billing if it were to cause in increase in insurance premiums. He reiterated that firefighting is an expensive industry, and hopefully the ordinance could help offset some of the burden to the county.

Carroll County Board of Supervisors Chairman David Hutchins agreed with Musser that education should be provided to the public if the county adopted the ordinance.

Fancy Gap District Supervisor Manus McMillian had problems with the fire fighting structure, however.

“The first thing that’s going to happen if we adopt this ordinance, and I can just see it now, a vehicle worth $300 catches on fire and they have the bare minimum insurance coverage,” McMillian said. “They are going to say why are you going to bill me $500 when the vehicle isn’t worth that? They’ll say just let the thing sit and burn. What do we say to people when this happens?”

McMillian was also bothered by the fee of $100 per acre for a vegetation fire.

“It takes more manpower to put out an acre of wildfire than it would to spray a Volkswagen Rabbit,” he said. “That is $500 as opposed to $100.”

Those numbers came out of insurance policies, Larrowe replied.

“Even a $500 vehicle fire as opposed to a commercial structural fire of $1,000, it doesn’t look like to me it is in line,” McMillian said.

Larrowe again noted that the numbers came from fire insurance companies.

“Also I think the emergency services board went over the vegetation fires and tried to come up with a way to charge on those,” Larrowe said. “And that was the flat fee and then the per acre charge.”

Supervisor Sam Dickson also wondered if the fire fee would interfere with the fundraising that the Hillsville Fire Department does.

“Do you think people will be less inclined to give money because of this? You don’t have to answer, it is just a thought,” Dickson said.

Dickson also wondered where the collected fire fees would go. Hutchins said they would go to the general fund. Dickson said when EMS runs a call, they keep the revenues from their billing.

“But we are treating it different because for fire departments it would go into the same pot for all fire departments,” Dickson said.

And what about deductibles, Dickson asked?

“I thought this was explained pretty well at the emergency services board meeting as far as deductibles. We took whatever insurance give us and there was no further billing done on it,” Jackson said. “So if it is a $300 car and they get a $500 bill and the insurance company pays $200, that is the end of it. I am hoping we will collect the same way EMS does.”

Littrell wanted to know if the initial bill would go to an individual or to their insurance company.

“I think what you would have to do is collect the insurance information and then it would end up going to the insurance company,” Larrowe said.

With so many questions and disagreement on issues, Hutchins tabled the matter for the time being.

“It appears we need to think about this until a future meeting, so let’s move on,” Hutchins said.