2013 Kentucky Revised Statutes CHAPTER 75 - FIRE PROTECTION DISTRICTS 75.450 Fees for services -- Exemptions -- Response to all fires in jurisdiction required -- Mission statement -- Inclusion of fees on property tax bills -- Collection and distribution -- Collection fee for sheriff.
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75.450 Fees for services -- Exemptions -- Response to all fires in jurisdiction
required -- Mission statement -- Inclusion of fees on property tax bills -Collection and distribution -- Collection fee for sheriff.
(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
A fire department which collects membership charges or subscriber fees for
combatting fires or serving in other emergencies shall base its annual fee or
charge on the level of protection offered.
A fire department that responds to a fire or other emergency on the property of
a nonmember or nonsubscriber may charge the following fees for services
rendered:
(a) Up to five hundred dollars ($500) for single family residential units; utility
occupancies of two thousand (2,000) or fewer square feet; assembly and
business occupancies having a capacity which does not exceed one
hundred (100) persons; equipment; vehicles; and grass or woods fires;
and
(b) Up to one thousand dollars ($1,000) for multifamily residential units;
assembly and business occupancies having a capacity exceeding one
hundred (100) persons; storage occupancies; utility occupancies of more
than two thousand (2,000) square feet; and all industrial, educational, or
institutional occupancies; and
(c) Up to five hundred dollars ($500) for responding to emergencies not
covered in paragraphs (a) and (b) of this subsection, including response
to high hazard occupancies as defined in KRS 198B.010. The department
may be entitled to recover necessary and reasonable costs in excess of
the five hundred dollar ($500) limit based upon submission of a written
itemized claim for the total costs incurred. Disputes involving fees in
excess of the five hundred dollar ($500) limit shall be submitted to
arbitration by the commission.
For the purposes of subsection (2)(a) and (b) of this section, the meaning of
assembly, business, industrial, educational, and institutional occupancies shall
be as defined in KRS 198B.010. The meaning of storage and utility
occupancies shall be as defined in the Kentucky Building Code, Sections 311.1
and 312.1 respectively, promulgated pursuant to KRS 198B.050.
Property owned by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the federal
government shall be exempt from charges.
If more than one (1) department responds to a fire or other emergency, the fee
shall be paid only to the department which is authorized to protect the property
pursuant to KRS 75.440(2)(a).
A fire department shall respond within its jurisdiction to all fires and to other
emergencies for which it is responsible as set forth in its mission statement. A
copy of each fire department mission statement shall be filed with the
commission. A new department shall file its statement when it is incorporated.
A department in existence on July 15, 1994, shall file its mission statement by
July 1, 1995. A copy of the mission statement shall be posted in a conspicuous
location in each station of the department, and shall be filed with the county
clerk of each county in which the department has jurisdiction pursuant to KRS
75.440(2)(a). The mission statement shall remain in effect until amended, and
(7)
(8)
filed and posted by the fire department in the locations as required by this
subsection.
If a fire department collects membership charges or subscriber fees, the fiscal
court may adopt an ordinance to require the annual membership charges or
subscriber fees to be added to property tax bills. In any county where the fiscal
court has adopted such an ordinance, the county clerk shall add the annual
membership charges or subscriber fees to the tax bills of the affected property
owners in a place separate from the bill of the fire district tax or fire subdistrict
tax so that ratepayers can ascertain the amount of the membership charges or
subscriber fees apart from the fire district tax.
The membership charges or subscriber fees shall be collected and distributed
by the sheriff to the appropriate fire departments in the same manner as the
other taxes on the bill and unpaid fees or charges shall bear the same penalty
as general state and county taxes. This shall be a lien on the property against
which it is levied from the time of the levy. The fiscal court shall, in the
ordinance set forth in subsection (7) of this section and in consultation with the
sheriff and the fire department, set a collection fee for the sheriff to retain an
amount not to exceed four and one-fourth percent (4.25%) of the membership
charges or subscriber fees collected.
Effective:July 12, 2012
History: Amended 2012 Ky. Acts ch. 51, sec. 1, effective July 12, 2012. -Amended 2002 Ky. Acts ch. 163, sec. 1, effective July 15, 2002. -- Created 1994
Ky. Acts ch. 43, sec. 6, effective July 15, 1994.
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