No one wakes up in the morning expecting to be in an auto accident, despite the well-known hazards of driving. But what may come as an additional surprise to those involved in wrecks or other emergencies is the costs they owe afterward, for services that many assume are already paid for by tax dollars.
Faced with increasing costs for equipment and training, many volunteer fire departments across the nation, state and even Nacogdoches are sending out bills for accidents, fires and other types of calls, sometimes asking for thousands of dollars in reimbursement.
Between 25 and 30 percent of fire departments in the state bill for some services, according to John Murray, director of operations for Revenue Rescue, the Round Rock-based billing company that many departments have retained to administer the process.
The fire departments that send out bills say that charging for their services is the only way to continue to serve their areas, where they are often the first and only line of defense against emergencies.
"In this day and age, equipment is becoming really expensive," Brian Lowden, secretary of the Melrose Volunteer Fire Department said. "They're using tools and doing things like that. If you use them, you should be able to bill for them."
But critics of the practice, including some volunteer fire chiefs who do not bill, say that it's wrong for a volunteer organization to ask for money on top of tax money or county stipends. Some volunteer departments that charge are also part of an emergency services district, a political entity that levies an additional tax on residents, specifically to cover the costs for first responders.
"The taxpayers elected to become and emergency services district," said Loco Valley Fire Chief Michael Self. "If we were to charge, that would be like double-charging, charging twice for the same service, and I don't feel that it is right to do that."
Five out of 18 Nacogdoches volunteer fire departments — Appleby, Etoile, Garrison, Lake Nacogdoches and South Nacogdoches — routinely send bills for some or all of their calls. Appleby, Lake Nacodoches and South Nacogdoches also receive tax money from an ESD, as well as a monthly payment from the county and community donations.
Chiefs of another four departments — Central Heights, Cushing, Melrose and Woden — said they do bill or would consider billing only on hazardous materials calls, which can ruin expensive equipment and use up other costly resources.
All of the departments that bill said the invoices are sent to insurance companies, not to individuals, though The Daily Sentinel could not verify this independently.
Murray, with the billing company, said sending out bills to insurance companies is a better alternative than eliminating services or raising taxes for everyone. "That's probably the most equitable way to fund those services, very similar to a water system, where taxes pay for the latent ability to deliver water, but then you pay for what you use," Murray said.
Though many are first encountering bills for fire and rescue services now, the practice has existed for years. Several Nacogdoches departments have billed, on and off, for nearly 10 years. And the county hospital district, which provides ambulance service throughout Nacogdoches, has billed for even longer.
Despite its prevalence, the practice remains poorly understood and largely unnoticed by citizens, state officials and even some fire departments.
"Isn't that illegal?" said David Kirk, the chief of the Swift-Shady Grove Volunteer Fire Department, when asked if his department bills for services. He said his department makes do with donations from citizens and voluntary contributions on the community's water bill. "If we need more, we do fundraisers," Kirk said. "We have charged nothing, and don't plan to."
Kirk's instinct, that volunteer departments might not be allowed to bill, is not entirely wrong, according to Jimmy Woodard, an emergency services district expert with the state's Office of Community and Rural Affairs. "I don't think you're going to find a law that allows them to collect or have any recourse to collect if someone were to refuse when they bill them," Woodard said. "I think you'll find that as fire departments, they cannot."
Seizing on the ambiguities in the law, many insurance companies simply ignore bills they receive from fire departments. During the last Texas legislative session, State Rep. Phil King, of Weatherford, attempted to clarify the law to make it clearer that insurance companies do have to reimburse departments for services rendered. Mattie Parker, King's chief of staff, said insurance companies are finding legal loopholes to avoid payment.
"They're not claiming that, by law, they're not supposed to pay. They're just claiming that, by law, they don't have to pay. So there probably does need to be some resolution," Parker said. "Some big companies I think are fighting back, so to speak, because it isn't real clear in the law."
But King's bill failed, Parker said, because King would not make allowances for VFDs to charge individuals, just insurance companies. The bill lost support from many departments across the state and died in committee.
The result is a pattern of inconsistent payment and under-funding to departments, in spite of their best efforts to recoup expenses.
"We only get 20 percent of what we bill anymore, Cindy Doucet with the Etoile VFD, said. "A lot of these companies don't want to give you money."
In the end, most departments still depend on the tried-and-true fish frys and barbecue fundraisers to support their departments.
Mike Scott, the Lake Nacogdoches VFD fire chief, said payments are so inconsistent that he doesn't even include the revenues in his budget calculations. "Sometimes we get something out of it and sometimes we don't."
