Excerpts from centralillinoisproud.com:
A proposal will be discussed at Tuesday’s Peoria City Council meeting to charge mitigation rates for services from the Peoria Fire Department.
The city manager and fire chief said the department could generate $200,000 annually through these charges for fire responses, hazmat situations, fire investigations, water, and motor vehicle accidents. The proposal explains that the department incurs high costs in its efforts to save lives and property, adding that the number of incidents firefighters respond to continues to rise every year. If approved, the fire department would send a bill to the homeowner’s insurance company. If a non-resident is involved, they would be responsible for 100% of the bill. A basic response to a motor vehicle accident would run $494. Gasoline and other auotomotive liquid cleanup would raise that fee to $562, and a car fire would go up to $687.
City leaders said it would be unfair to raise property taxes to meet the increase in demand because not all residents call the fire department.
