Fire Agencies Increasingly Charging For Services

On October 24, the Hastings, Michigan fire department joined the growing ranks of units that charge their residents for designated fire services. Its City Council unanimously adopted an ordinance to charge non-metro area residents for emergency calls, as well as to bill regional inhabitants who repeatedly issue false alarms or commit illegal fire-provoking acts. While such a process is hardly unprecedented, it still remains an exception and not the rule across the national landscape.

As is often the case, financial constraints of the Hastings government spurred this directive. According to Hastings Township Clerk Bonnie Cruttenden, the city was spending 80 percent of its general fund on fire services without any means of recuperating the lost revenue. Michigan