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Council asks staff to revisit fire assisted-lift fees for facilities and homeowners
Summary
A council member asked staff to return with options and data on 'assisted lift' fire fees adopted in 2023 — including whether to separate facility billing (nursing/assisted-living) from homeowner charges and how insurance is used — and staff agreed to provide available data and the original 2023 report.
A council member raised concerns about recently updated fire fees for assisted lifts and requested that staff bring back options to clarify who pays for the service.
The council member said the assisted-lift charges (added by ordinance in 2023) may unfairly burden some residents and questioned whether facilities such as nursing homes and group homes should be billed differently. "I do think that's a heavy lift," the council member said, and asked staff to consider alternatives and to provide data on billing and insurance use. A staff member agreed to return with the original 2023 staff report and whatever updated payment data are available; staff cautioned that granular insurance-versus-patient billing detail may be limited but promised to provide what they have.
Council members asked for segmented data where possible (insurance vs. non-insurance billing) to inform a future discussion; staff proposed a timeline to bring preliminary findings back to the council in a near-term meeting.
