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Highland Village council backs pursuing vendor billing addendum but agrees not to bill residents
Summary
Council signaled consensus to pursue an addendum with a third-party billing vendor to pursue insurer reimbursements for vehicle wrecks, hazmat and other incidents, with a directive that residents not be billed and staff to return with contract language and reporting details.
City staff on Tuesday presented a proposed addendum to the city's EMS billing contract that would let a private vendor pursue additional reimbursements for certain fire and emergency responses. The vendor, referenced in the meeting materials under names including "Emergifier" or "Emergicon," would handle claims paperwork and take a 15% contingency fee on recovered funds; staff said the service would come at no up-front cost to the city.
The presentation outlined the kinds of responses that could generate revenue'motor-vehicle crashes, gas leaks, some car fires, alarm responses and certain hazmat responses'and included a draft fee schedule that ranges from the $500s to the $700s for common motor-vehicle-incident charges plus add-ons for extrication and landing zones. City staff also said some peer cities use the vendor to bill insurers rather than residents.
Several council members raised equity and optics concerns about billing people who pay property taxes for the city''"I don't want residents billed," a council member said during the discussion. Staff recommended a cautious approach: "start out low, soft, you do not bill residents, period," and to customize the ordinance to exclude residential structural-fire billing while allowing insurers or nonresident charges to be pursued.
Council and staff discussed technical issues raised by electric-vehicle fires and the costs of replacing contaminated bunker gear, and staff cited NFPA and Texas Commission on Fire Protection (TCFP) guidelines for cleaning and inspection protocols. The council asked staff for clearer resident-versus-nonresident data and for contract language that would prevent inadvertent balance-billing of city residents.
Rather than a formal vote, council gave direction to staff and the fire chief to pursue the addendum with the vendor using the insurance-billing model and to draft ordinance and contract language that explicitly preserves a prohibition on billing residents unless a future council explicitly authorizes otherwise. Staff said the contract contains standard annual continuation and opt-out provisions and can be amended to reflect council direction.
Next steps: staff will return with proposed contract language and a sample ordinance for council consideration and a more precise projection of potential recoverable revenue once resident/nonresident call data are verified.
