(A) If the city’s Fire Department is directed by either Putnam County 911 or Kanawha County 911 to respond to a fire outside the city and outside the Fire Service District, the City Treasurer shall assess a fire service user fee upon the owner of the property, such fee to be calculated as follows:$250 plus $75 for each Fire Department apparatus remaining on the scene of the fire for each half-hour increment, or part thereof, after the initial hour of response. The owner shall also be liable for, and the city shall have the right to recover from such owner, the cost and expense for the utilization of any specialized and disposable equipment or materials necessary to fight the fire and render the scene safe and secure.
(B) In lieu of the emergency services user fire protection service fee imposed by § 39.047, the city is authorized to enter into a fire service contract with the owner of any business or residence located outside of but within three miles of the city Fire Service District. Any such owner that enters into a fire service contract shall annually be assessed a fee of $25 plus an amount equal to 60% of the annual tax levied for current municipal purposes upon property within the city of like classification and valuation to the property under the contract.
(C) The annual payment for each fire service contract shall be due and payable on October 1 for each calendar year the fire service contract is in existence. Any annual payment that is delinquent for a period of more than 30 days shall bear interest at the rate of 9% per annum and shall be a lien upon the property under contract; provided, that a notice of that lien is properly recorded in the office of the County Clerk of the county in which the property or the major portion thereof is located. The lien shall be void at the expiration of two years after the delinquent annual payment became due unless within that two-year period a civil action seeking equitable relief to enforce the lien is instituted by the city. The city may by civil action collect any annual payment and the interest thereon at any time within five years after such payment became due; provided, that upon default in any annual payment, the city may cancel the fire service contract involved.
(D) Each fire service contract made under the authority of this section shall inure to the benefit of and be binding upon the successors in title of the property owner making the fire service contract, and the property owner, upon conveying the property subject to fire service contract, shall no longer be liable under the fire service contract, except as to any annual payments which were due prior to the conveyance and which remain unpaid.
(E) A property owner not delinquent on payment of the fire service contract fee may cancel any fire service contract with respect to the property of the property owner upon giving a 30-day written notice to the city; provided, that if notice of cancellation is given subsequent to July 1 of any calendar year, the next succeeding annual payment shall be made by the property owner as soon as the amount thereof is ascertainable. Upon cancellation of the fire service contract, the City Treasurer shall deliver to the property owner a recordable release discharging that owner and the subject property from any further lien or obligation with respect to the annual payments. The annual payments due under the fire service contract shall be made to the City Treasurer.
(Ord. passed 8-18-2015; Ord. passed 10-6-2015)