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How non-tax payers could foot the bill for rescue calls in Altoona

Monday, December 18, 2017
Claire Sarafin | WQOW

Altoona (WQOW) -- The Altoona Fire Department is hoping to get reimbursed for some of its costliest calls. 

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On Thursday, the Altoona City Council may vote on an ordinance that would allow the department to bill non-tax payers for costs related to fire or rescue calls.

That means if someone from out of town got into a car accident, first responders could bill that person for their services, who would pass the bill along to their insurance company, which would ultimately reimburse Altoona Fire.

However, it's not just people. Officials said churches could also be charged because churches don't pay taxes, though details of the ordinance haven't been ironed out just yet. 

Fire Chief Mark Renderman told News 18 they asked to put the rule in place after crews were called to put out a hay fire this summer

"There's always costs somewhere that the city's been eating and we're looking at trying to reduce the overall costs to the tax payer of the city," Renderman said. 

The ordinance would apply only to fire calls and not EMS responses. Chief Renderman also said national firefighting organizations recommend every city have an ordinance like this in place. 

News 18 also reached out to the Eau Claire Fire Department to find out what kind of rules they had. Officials there said there's no ordinance in place to recoup costs, but that doesn't mean they wouldn't consider it for a costly call. 

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