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SALEM -- The fire department will now be able to submit fees to insurance to partially recover costs associated with fire calls.
City council Wednesday unanimously approved an ordinance regarding fire department cost recovery which will allow the department to charge fees to insurance providers following a fire call.
In an Oct. 27 meeting of the rules and ordinances committee, chairman Jeff Stockman said the associated fees have been part of the city fee schedule for the past three years, but the fire department never had permission to actually charge those fees until now. He also said that the city had a similar ordinance in place to recover costs associated with hazmat calls and that several other communities in the area like Ravenna and Ravenna Township had similar legislation in place.
Both Stockman and Fire Chief Scott Mason stressed that the fees would be collected on a no-balance billing basis for city residents, meaning in the event “insurance information is unavailable, the applicable insurance carrier cannot be identified, the carrier denies coverage, or the city is otherwise unable to obtain payment through insurance” that the city will “handle the unpaid charge in accordance with the applicable citywide fee schedule and any other applicable ordinance or law.” Mason also stressed that insurance providers build expenses for cost-recovery fees into policy premiums, and that residents should not see premium increases as a result of cost-recovery fees being submitted.
The department already employs a no-balance billing policy for its ambulance service on the reasoning that city residents already pay their share for the fire department through their municipal taxes.
Rather than specifying a cost for individual fees, the ordinance stipulates that all fees “shall be established through the city’s citywide fee schedule or other duly adopted ordinance or resolution” and that those fees “shall be reviewed as part of the city’s annual review of the citywide fee schedule.”
The ordinance specifies that the “fire department or its authorized billing agent may” request any information necessary to submit an authorized charge for a fire department response directly to the responsible party’s applicable insurance carrier. It also states that the fire department must “maintain reasonable documentation supporting any charge submitted” with documentation including “incident reports, dispatch records, apparatus records, personnel records, insurance information, billing records, and other records reasonably necessary to substantiate the charge.”
Council also unanimously authorized updates to an ordinance regarding bicycles and motorcycles.
The updates chiefly concern regulations for riding electric motorcycles and E-bikes, including the implementation of increased requirements for worn safety equipment for different tiers of E-bikes and clarifying that riders are subject to the same civil and criminal penalties for traffic offenses as a car. The updated safety equipment regulations require any rider aged 16 or under to wear a helmet at all times when riding an E-bike and requires a helmet to be worn when riding an E-bike on the road regardless of age.
The updates also add a new section to the ordinance which gives police officers authorization to temporarily impound an E-bike until it can be picked up by a parent in the event a traffic offense is committed by a juvenile rider.
Other legislation approved included a resolution accepting $232,130.11 in federal funding through FEMA's assistance to firefighter's grant program to purchase self-contained breathing apparatus, a rapid intervention tea air pack, and associated grant administrative expenses; a resolution authorizing Mayor Cyndi Baronzzi Dickey to prepare and submit an application to participate in the Ohio Department of Transportation's Transportation Alternatives Program, and to execute contracts as required; and a resolution adopting and approving the 2027 citywide fee schedule and declaring it an emergency.
Council will meet next at 7 p.m. on Nov. 17.