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Greenwood council advances ordinance to charge residential care facilities for non-emergency lifts
Summary
The Greenwood City Council passed first reading on Ordinance 25-18, which would establish fees for non-emergency responses and lift assists at residential care facilities after council and fire staff cited a high volume of calls to those sites.
The Greenwood City Council passed first reading of Ordinance 25-18 on a 6-0 vote, advancing a proposal to impose fees for non-emergency responses and lift-assist calls at residential care facilities.
City Fire Department leadership told the council that residential care facilities account for a disproportionate share of non-emergency responses. The presenter said that through July the department had recorded 5,719 total calls for service and 887 calls to seven residential care facilities—about 15 percent of total call volume. The ordinance would target nonemergent incidents at institutional residential facilities rather than single-family homes.
Chief said the fee is intended as a deterrent and to cover the cost of operating an engine or ladder on scene. He cited FEMA schedules that approximate an engine at $1,500 per hour and a ladder at $2,000 per hour. Council discussion clarified a tiered fee structure the chief described: a first non-emergency response of $500, followed by a higher $1,000 charge for repeat incidents. The chief said those figures would be used to recoup operating costs for emergency medical operations and equipment.
Council members asked how the city will notify affected facilities and how billing will be handled. The chief said the city will send notice to facilities once the ordinance is adopted and that billing will follow the same administrative process used for fire-alarm fees; recovered funds would be used for emergency medical operations and equipment.
Council members also discussed enforcement and documentation procedures. The chief said crews would document the original dispatch reason and the actual condition encountered on arrival; that documentation would be used to determine whether a response qualified as non-emergent and therefore billable.
Council action: the council suspended the rules to consider the ordinance at first reading and then approved Ordinance 25-18 on first reading by a 6-0 roll-call vote. No second-reading vote on final adoption was recorded in the transcript.
Why it matters: Council members said the measure aims to protect limited emergency resources and discourage repeated non-emergency requests for engine- or ladder-level responses to long-term care facilities.
What’s next: The ordinance will return to the council for further readings and final action. The city intends to notify the affected facilities after adoption and to use recovered fees for emergency medical operations and equipment purchases.
