CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The Corpus Christi City Council approved an ordinance establishing a fee for fire protection services outside the city limits.
The ordinance also creates a rate schedule and collection procedures to recover the fees in cases where they are not paid.
Fees will be charged based on four components.
As described in an attachment to the council agenda, the first component is a Response Readiness Fee, which is based on the total cost of providing service, divided by the number of taxed parcels within the city limits.
Next, there is a fee for service, which is based on personnel costs and the tyoe of call. This information will dictate the type, and number, of responding units, and the costs will be multiplied by the number of hours engaged in the response.
The next component is cost of equipment: It's based on the cost of equipment as listed on the FEMA schedule for equipment rates. Like the assessment of personnel costs, the apparatus and equipment costs will vary depending on the call type. The hourly cost of equipment will be multiplied by the number of hours engaged in the response.
The final component is mileage: this fee will be based on the annual IRS rate for mileage, combined with a set cost identified to offset the annual cost of maintenance for the responding apparatus. The mileage rate will be multiplied by the travel distance for each responding unit.
These calculations will take into account the call type, number, and type of resources responding, including personnel and equipment costs, duration of incident, and distance traveled by responding units.
False alarms or responses in which "no incident is found" would not result in a fee.
Residents, homeowners, or the responsible party will be notified by the city within 30 days of the incident.
A second and third collection notice will be sent approximately 60 and 120 days from the date of incident.
After 180 days, the invoice will be considered delinquent and will be referred to a third-party collection service.
