During the regular monthly meeting of the Turkey Creek Township Advisory Board on Monday evening, board members passed a resolution to establish charges for fire department services within the township.

In accordance to state recommended guidelines, the fire department may charge up to $250 per response vehicle, $100 per command vehicle, $150 per hour per response vehicle and $50 per hour per command vehicle with appropriate fees for replacement of foam used to extinguish or control a fire. The resolution will take effect Jan. 1, 2013.

“This resolution gives the department the option to fine for their services in response to illegal burning activities or repeat offenders,” said Bill Dixon, board president.

“I think it’s a good idea to crack down on this,” said board member Kim Cates. “We need to allow firefighters and EMS to be available for real emergencies, not because someone set off a firework that started a field fire.”

Another resolution approved by board members during the meeting establishes a three percent raise in salary, longevity compensation, insurance and other benefits for officials and employees of the Turkey Creek fire territory. These salaries and benefits were previously discussed as part of the 2013 budget process.

In his fire report, fire chief Mickey Scott reported the department has responded to 192 fire runs and 842 EMS runs so far this year, through the end of the October. This is an average of 103 calls per month or three to four responses per day.

Scott also reported $229,538 is currently in debt collections. When the department’s EMS billing company exhausts all attempts to collect on EMS invoices, the bills are turned over to debt collections.

The Turkey Creek Township Advisory Board meets at 7 p.m. on the second Monday of the month at Fire Station 2, 8138 E. McClintic Rd., Syracuse.

For a more in-depth accounting of Monday’s meeting, see this week’s issue of The Mail-Journal.