Ask J.R.! – Fire Fees

Finance Director J.R. Sabatelli and his Department deal with a lot of questions.  I’m bringing you the answers each month in our new Ask J.R. article!

Q: What are City Fire Fees, and who has to pay them?

A:  The City of Morgantown has a paid fire department.  Therefore all structures are charged a fire fee of .0580 cents per square foot on the total square feet of any structure to help fund its work here in the City.  The fourth (4^th) floor and above is charged and additional fee of .0366 per square foot.  That includes all floors, finished attics, finished basements, garages attached, detached or in the basement and out buildings.  The fire fee is for the maintenance and upkeep of the fire department.  The billing cycle is based on a fiscal year from July 01 to June 30, so expect a bill in July 2012.

It is best described in code 747.02:

(a)     There is hereby levied and imposed upon all users of the fire protection service provided by the City, a fee for the continuation, maintenance and improvement of such service.  The fee shall be 5.80 cents per square foot of space within each structure, per annum. Structures exceeding three floors shall be charged an additional 3.66 cents per square foot of space for each additional space above the third floor.
The gross square footage of each structure shall be determined by the duly authorized and designated agents of the City in accordance with the definition of terms in Section 747.01 and the gross square footage measurements for each structure shall then be multiplied by the rates shown above to determine the amount of the fee to be charged against the use of the fire protection service.
(b)     There is hereby levied and imposed on the user of fire protection services of the City, who otherwise is not chargeable herein, an hourly fee for each and every use of such fire protection services, payable on demand by the City, as determined by the City Manager or designee based on an hourly rate as calculated from the City’s current Fire Department budget divided by 8760 hours.  Additional charges for expendable materials not otherwise contracted for by the City shall also be levied.
c)     For the purpose of this section, the first story of a structure shall be that story, any side of which has a floor level that is not more than one-half of the story height below grade, and when at any point along the length of the side, it is counted as the first story, it will result in a structure height which is in excess of three stories.
A story that is more than one-half of its height below grade and those which are specifically excluded in Section 747.01(d), shall not be counted when determining building height.
(Ord.  11-15-88.)
and code 747.03
The fees levied and imposed in Section 747.02 shall be collected from each user of the fire protection service in equal, semi-annual installments unless the user shall choose to pay the entire annual fee at one time.  For the period October 1, 1983 through June 30, 1984, the first installment shall be due on November 1, 1983, and the second installment shall be due April 1, 1984.  Thereafter, the installments shall be due on August 15 and February 15 of each succeeding City fiscal year.  Users who pay the entire annual fee prior to the due date of the first installment shall receive a five percent (5%) discount.  There shall be a late payment penalty in the amount of five percent (5%) of all amounts remaining unpaid as of February 15 of each City fiscal year.
(Ord.  99-11.  Passed 4-20-99.)

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