$25,000.00 for 911

[densa44]

If Rocky View it is such a good idea to have insurance companies paying for fire fighting, and the reeve said on the CBC this am that it would cost about "$10.00" per annum on your policy

Here's my idea take the $10.00 out of the tax increase that they have just approved, buy insurance for every one at a County rate. That way they can deal with the insurance company, and explain why it took an hour to get to the fire, and why there are so many chiefs.

I'm afraid of this apathy business Dave mentioned, this is an election year and the term will be 4 years, we need new candidates, the people who voted for billing the Hixts are well past their best before date and should be turned out.

[Tundra Monkey]

Originally Posted by Full Curl Earl

Fire investigation always reveals at the scene if owner was insured. The fire fighters, all the way up to the Battalion Chiefs could care less about billing, not our business. Just there to make the bad things go away. There is a whole team of billing department personell that takes care of this. It was explained to me how it works.
Same occurs for collisions, insurance company is billed directly. Fire Departments work the insurance recovery funds into budgeting. If this was to stop, everyones Per Capita on County/Land taxes would increase.
Also of note, its not that uncommon to have insurance companies contact Fire Departments and say "You guys did really well protecting the folks vehicles, or piano, etc" as it saves them money, and they will also call and question why something did not turn out favorable.

I see what you're saying but that's a lot of information pretty quick. Our paperwork was all inside of our house. It would have been impossible to "review" my policy. Even our adjuster in town did not have a copy of it. Our insurance is done through a company located in Edmonton and they have our file. It was not known even to us for a week as to whether or not we would be covered.

I don't think that they can bill the insurance directly without having the policy holder in the loop. You are essentially taking money out of a pool that I have access to.

I think it's a good idea to review your policy and make sure that as an individual you are covered. In your example I'd be better off to not pay for it because it's already done.

Please don't take my comments as anything negative towards the Fire Department. They did not save the piano (the cat tho!!) in our case but they were absolutely awesome

Trying to keep water running at -35 for 7 hrs to save all our crap.....brutal/scary working conditions.

[ctd]

I guess it is time to buy a few fire hoses, pumps and some B hear and train up the neighbours for fire protection services.

Billing for emergency services is getting out of hand.
What's next billing for breathing air, oh wait they are already trying that.

[npbra]

Rockeyview is a huge joke, in more ways than just the fire department charges. Try to get a developement permit to do changes around your acreage for example.

[Big Daddy Badger]

On the surface... I don't see anything wrong with it.
Do they pay taxes to the community the same way townies do?
Or did they opt out?

Living in the country comes with unique benefits and risks that landowners are usually aware of.

If they are being unfairly treated fine but I suspect there is more to it than meets the eye,
For pratical purposes it would be all but impossible to provide round the clock.... full service to entire counties on the backs of the communities that are funding those services and it might be hard to make everyoine rural to kick in through taxation.

I know fire service stops at the edge of my hoime town because the folks just out of city limits prefered paying more for insurance over paying city taxes.

As a consequence a family whose kids I was in school with lost their home even though the Fire Hall was less than a mile away.

Sucks but there may be legitimate reasons for the bill.

[Clgy_Dave2.0]

I thought there was no bill now. They decided to cancel it and feel they have to rethink the whole billing thing. That's what I thought I watched on global.

[FishingMOM]

Originally Posted by Calgary Dave

I thought there was no bill now. They decided to cancel it and feel they have to rethink the whole billing thing. That's what I thought I watched on global.

Council got a little too much attention after the Hixt's took their story public and the bill has been cancelled.

[Whiskey Wish]

Originally Posted by pesky672

On the surface... I don't see anything wrong with it.
Do they pay taxes to the community the same way townies do?
Or did they opt out?

Living in the country comes with unique benefits and risks that landowners are usually aware of.

If they are being unfairly treated fine but I suspect there is more to it than meets the eye,
For pratical purposes it would be all but impossible to provide round the clock.... full service to entire counties on the backs of the communities that are funding those services and it might be hard to make everyoine rural to kick in through taxation.

I know fire service stops at the edge of my hoime town because the folks just out of city limits prefered paying more for insurance over paying city taxes.

As a consequence a family whose kids I was in school with lost their home even though the Fire Hall was less than a mile away.

Sucks but there may be legitimate reasons for the bill.

I would be interested in hearing how you believe Municipal taxation functions?
How exactly would someone "opt out" of paying their taxes?
Full service on the "backs of the communities"?
M.D's have had reciprocal and cost shared fire fighting services for many years. A house burning down with a fire hall a mile away is not something that would happen in 2013.

Residential taxes (the commonly discussed "our" taxes) make up but a small fraction of the total taxes taken in by an M.D. By far the largest tax income is from industry based taxes.
For example: Residential and farm taxes COMBINED would not pay for even just the road gravelling program in Yellowhead County.

The next part of the fire fighting costs that will bite rural people is the "wildland" fire clause. If you have a brush fire or grass fire your homeowners policy will not cover that cost. When the local fire dept responds the cost could/would/should? get passed on to you the landowner. The actual CAUSE of the fire could be lightning, cig out a window, came from the neighbours grass fire etc etc...but the bill would go to the landowner.

Scenario: Your neighbour has a grass fire. Afraid of the bill he does not call the fire dept. The fire leaves his property to your property headed for your buildings. Left with no choice you call the fire dept and YOU get the bill. Your only option to recover money from your neighbour is the civil courts. That might work if they OWN the property but if they are simply renters how does that work?

It is a complex topic and a slippery slope imho.
Regards,
Dave.