Wood County officials discuss delinquent fire fees
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PARKERSBURG -- County officials are looking at ways to get people to pay their delinquent fire fee bills.
Wood County Fire Board Chairman Tim Robinson and Board Member Bill Summers appeared before the Wood County Commission on Monday to give an annual update on what the board is doing and the challenges it is facing.
The fire board has seen a decrease in collections on the fire fee annually from 93 percent the first year to 90 percent the following year. In 2018 it was at 88 percent, in 2019 it dropped to 86 percent and in 2020 they were at 80 percent, Summers and Robinson said.
"We have not been able to turn that around," he said. "2020 payments are now lagging almost $240,000."
Summers said board members have reached out to people in person about getting the payments made.
Robinson also said the board has lists of the people who owe the most in each district and given those to the fire chiefs in those areas to see if they can personally contact people about getting the payments made.
Commissioners said those lists could also be made available to the county to release to local media outlets which in turn could alert a businesses' local insurance agents on the fee not being paid which could impact their coverage.
A few weeks ago the county sent certified letters to the top 10 businesses in the county that have not paid the fire fee. The top one was Surnaik Holdings of WV LLC and Evergreen Holdings LLC with $23,742.90 and $9,356.04 owed, respectively, from each.
Both companies are owned by the Naik family that owned the former Ames plant in Parkersburg, Intercontinental Export Import, where a large-scale fire occurred in late 2017 that burned for a week and required the efforts of almost 40 area fire departments.
Officials said they have not heard back from anyone.
Robinson said they have tried to reach some of the people in person, but have not been able to contact anyone.
Ohio Valley College Inc. of Vienna, which operates Ohio Valley University, owes $9,247.91. Officials said the university is dealing with a number of financial issues at this time.
Sams Real Estate Business of Vienna (Sam's Club) owes $7,920. Fire board officials said the Vienna Fire Chief and city officials were unaware of what was owed. Letting local officials know might help them getting the businesses to pay, they said.
The most recent fire fee bills went sent in mid-January.
"People should have started receiving those and sending back their payments," Commission President Blair Couch said.
Commissioner Robert Tebay said he has already received his bill and paid it.
"It is not fair for me to pay my fire fee and others don't pay," he said.
Officials discussed possible legal or court actions that might prompt some people to pay their fire fee bills. Options are being considered so people can pay their fire fee online, but that system is not in place, officials said.
The fire board has a clerk working to take care of the fee concerns. Officials said any messages they get through any of the county offices are forwarded to the clerk.
County Administrator Marty Seufer said they have been getting a lot of complaints about calls not being returned.
Sheriff Steve Stephens said employees in the tax office and elsewhere have been getting calls with questions regarding the fire fee. Stephens said many of the issues were "small" and he had discussed it with Robinson.
Robinson said they would look into it to see what can be done.
"We want to be helpful," Couch told the fire board leaders. "We want to be partners in this."
Commissioners said some of the fire board members' terms have expired and have made appointments to fill those posts, including the recent nomination of David Lawson. Summers' term has expired, which was a surprise to him.
Considering the amount of work he has done with the board, commissioners want to look at options to keep Summers on the board and they will confer with their legal counsel on the matter. Summers was told he can continue on the board until he hears from the commission on his status.
Commissioners have seen the impact the fee has had with departments able to afford tires for their trucks, purchase new bunker gear which replaced some that were over 20 years old, new stations, renovating existing stations and more.
In other business, the commission approved the appointment of Stephens, Prosecutor Pat Lefebure, Chris Rutherford, Whitney McAtee, Jeff Reed and Dick Waybright to the Wood County Community Corrections Board.
Brett Dunlap can be reached at bdunlap@newsandsentinel.