City Of Tulsa Looking For New Ways To Make Money

By Emory Bryan, The News On 6

TULSA, OK -- While the city of Tulsa looks to save money, it's also looking at new ways to make money.  That could include billing for service from the fire department. It's a new idea for Tulsa, but standard practice in some places already.

The city of Tulsa could bring in millions of dollars a year by billing for service when the fire department responds to car accidents and house fires. 

The city council is looking into it as an alternative to a public safety surcharge on monthly utility bills.

"I'm not opposed to something like that, but to ask somebody to pay $500 because they had to call 911 to get the fire department totally goes against my grain," said Bill Christiansen, Tulsa City Councilor.

The city treasurer's office says many other cities already send out bills for fire service, but only to insurance companies, who generally are willing to pay $500 per call.

"That's what we're after - the insurance payment," said Stan Jones, City of Tulsa.

In Sand Springs, billing for fire service is nothing new. The city collects about $500 per call for house fires and car accidents.

"It's not billing the individual, it's the insurance company," said Mike Wood, Sand Springs Fire Department.

In Sand Springs, the city gets about $55,000 a year by billing for accidents. In Tulsa, there are so many more car accidents the income could be well over $1.1 million a year.

"There are some special circumstances that we might look at, you know, if it was caused by some other person, they may not get the bill, but again, this is not billing the individual but billing their insurance companies," said Mike Wood.

The extra fee doesn't require any extra paperwork from firefighters, and the bill goes directly to insurance companies. 

The Tulsa City Council is split on the issue, but plans to keep talking.

"In my opinion, it's double dipping," said Bill Christiansen.

The city cannot bill for a response from law enforcement because there's a state law against it.

Read the figures from the city on how much money the city might get.

2/1/2010  Related Story: City of Tulsa Is Back On Track To Balance Its Budget