Ordinance gives fire department ‘flexibility’ in recouping costs
By Jim Newell
Managing Editor
OXFORD TWP. — Increased demand for fire and EMS services – and the associated costs – have placed a greater burden on the Oxford Fire Department. Now, the township is proposing a cost recovery ordinance to help recoup some of those expenses.
The Oxford Township Board of Trustees unanimously approved the first reading of the Oxford Township Fire Department Cost Recovery Ordinance on Jan. 8 and will hold a second reading and possible adoption of the ordinance at its Feb. 12 meeting.
“This was a joint effort with the fire department to give them more flexibility with being able to recoup some of their costs for responses. We do have some existing ordinances on our books; however, they’ve never been codified under one clean ordinance,” township attorney Brittany Ellis said. “We drafted this ordinance to say that we may charge for these fees. That way the fire department has discretion on a case-by-case basis to say ‘Hey, this is a case where it wouldn’t necessarily be appropriate to seek recovery.’”
Oxford Fire Chief Matt Majestic said the department would likely not bill residents for legitimate emergency responses and accidents, but would for negligent or intentional acts.
“As far as the residents are concerned, our goal there is to only seek cost recovery from residents when it’s negligent in nature and done purposefully. Wrongful acts, things of that nature that go along with breaking the law or violating ordinances on purpose,” Oxford Fire Chief Matt Majestic said. “Accidents are just accidents and that’s why we’re here. So, I just want people to know that we’re not out trying to get money from people.”
According to language in the proposed ordinance, “A significant number of fire/rescue incidents in the Township involve acts by nonresidential individuals, contractors and/or tax-exempt facilities. There has been an increased demand for fire rescue services beyond regular firefighting, requiring additional training, certification, licensure and specialized equipment. As a result, the Township finds that a greater additional and financial burden has been placed on the Township’s Fire Department by the actions of and demands for service from nontax paying entities.”
The ordinance states that a further burden has been caused by drivers operating under the influence of intoxicants or controlled substances, who are more likely to cause personal injury or property damage. The ordinance will help the fire department recover its costs in these incidents.
The ordinance also deals with unique issues, such as downed power lines, and would allow the fire department to recover costs from companies that do something wrong in the community, hazmat situations, or having firefighters “sitting on power lines for 18 hours and having DTE say ‘well it’s too bad,” Majestic said.
“It costs us a lot of money to sit there and put four people at a power line, or two people at a down power line, for 16-18 hours at a time. So, this is not geared toward getting money from our residents,” Majestic said.
“When the fire department has to do a fire watch, currently they have no ability to recoup that money for their personnel, their time, from DTE. Under this ordinance they will. They also some flexibility with regard to when they charge our residents. For example, they have discretion for when they are charging township residents for certain services under the ordinance,” Ellis said.
The Oxford ordinance is similar to the ordinance Orion Township adopted in 2021, which Ellis drafted.
“It has been working well for them and allowed them to obtain recovery on a lot of issues that they were previously not able to seek reimbursement for,” Ellis said. “So, that was a reason why Chief Majestic came to our office and said can we do something similar here in Oxford. There were certain changes from the Orion ordinance to make this work for Oxford and address certain specific issue they have.”
Trustee David Wagner asked if the fire department would seek to get cost recovery from residents who have a medical incident.
“Bottom line is, I feel we have a moral obligation to help folks in an emergency without putting them in financial jeopardy,” Wagner said.
Majestic agreed and said in the case of an incident where someone is transported to a hospital, for instance, the fire department does not ask for people to pay out-of-pocket for that service.
“We only send a bill to those people that we transport, and we bill their insurance first and foremost,” Majestic said. “And if they are a resident of this community, township or village, we take whatever the insurance company provides us and that’s it. We do not send them to collections. If they don’t have insurance and don’t have the ability to pay, that’s it. We’re done. We don’t go after them.”
That also applies to nonresidents who have accidents in Oxford Township.
“We’ll do what we can to make sure that we take care of everybody, regardless of where they’re from, regardless of where they live and we have that discretion. I don’t see us ever going after an individual for simply having an accident,” Majestic said.
Some of the services listed for which the fire department may recover costs include:
Response, rescue and medical treatment for motor vehicle-related incidents. Clean up using a hazmat kit.
Intentional fire in a commercial, industrial or manufacturing establishment or residential structure.
Confined space rescues (emergency response and nonemergency/continuous on-site stand-by).
Hazardous materials operation.
Emergency ice rescue services (per person).
Watercraft rescue (per person).
Air craft and boat fires (nonresident).
Stand-by fees for utility providers such as downed power lines and gas leaks, or other non-hazmat public utility hazard response.
Response to violations of the open burning requirements.
Special events cost recovery (personnel and resources made available and dedicated to a specific event to provide emergency services and other agreed upon assistance).
Ambulance services for emergency and non-emergency responses.
The full proposed ordinance is in the Oxford Township Board of Trustees Jan. 8 meeting packet online at oxfordtownship.org, or is available in the clerk’s office for review.
The township board meets at 6:30 p.m. Feb. 12 in the board room at the Oxford Township Offices, 300 N. Dunlap Rd.