College Station Fire Department studies rescue fees [The Eagle, Bryan, Texas]

Nov. 18--College Station drivers rescued from wrecks by firefighters may soon have to say "thank you" by writing a check.

The city is considering developing a revenue recovery program that would charge the cost of responding to an accident to the driver who is at fault. Vehicle fires and small hazardous material spills would also incur a charge.

The billing would be handled by Revenue Rescue/Intermedix of San Antonio, which would collect a portion of the payment as its fee. Money collected would allow the College Station Fire Department to free up funds in a time that municipal governments across the country are struggling to balance their budgets.

"It's a way of shifting funds from tactical response to strategic investments, such as training, public education and fire prevention," Chief R.B. Alley told the City Council last week.

Details of the plan still need to be finalized, but Alley predicted that it could bring in more than $126,000 to his department each year.

The program would be modeled after the city of Bryan's, which has worked with Revenue Rescue/Intermedix for several years. In 2009. the Bryan Fire Department submitted 316 requests for payment and the company collected $82,373, an average collection of $260 per submission.

The percentage that Revenue Rescue/Intermedix would collect is negotiable and hasn't been agreed upon. Bryan Fire Chief Mike Donoho said he is unsure how much the company takes from his department's collections. That information was unavailable Thursday because the person in his department who handles the program was out of town, he said.

The idea drew unanimous support from the College Station City Council when Alley suggested it during a workshop meeting last week. In order to implement it, the council must adopt a resolution that sets the fees. That fee would likely be based on the equipment utilized and the hourly wages of the personnel that respond.

College Station Fire Department spokesman Bart Humphreys said the city hopes to have the program implemented by the beginning of 2012, though that may be difficult with the holiday season approaching. The department has no specific plans for the money, he said, but is preparing for increased expenses with its sixth fire station currently under construction.

"This is something we have done quite a bit of research into and hopefully getting the process started wont take too terribly long," Humphreys said.

Department officials said they are unsure what the public reaction will be, but they hope it won't deter people from calling 911 out of concern for the cost.

In Bryan, the city only submits a request to the responsible party's insurance company -- not the actual driver.

"Our goal is to do as much cost-recovery as we can without impacting the citizens," Donoho said.

College Station will consider that strategy, too, Alley said.

The city received strong pushback from residents in 2009 when it hired the Arizona-based American Traffic Solutions to operate red light cameras in the city. Opponents of that idea argued that it was designed more to make a profit than to protect drivers. Residents eventually voted to remove the cameras in a citizen-organized ballot initiative.

Jim Maness, one of the leaders of the anti-red light camera effort, said he supports the idea of collections for the fire department.

"I think it is a little different philosophy and different idea," said Maness, who was a volunteer firefighter for years before moving to the College Station area. "It actually helps the fire departments get reimbursed for their work."

But, he said, he'd like to see the city handle the collections on its own -- maybe through writing a ticket -- instead of hiring a private company.

"What would be the cost of utilizing the agency?" he said. "The more of the cost, the more of a scam it would look like, similar to the red light camera issue."

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