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Finance Committee questions rationale for proposed fire-alarm inspection fee hike
Summary
The committee discussed a fire-department warrant request to raise fire-alarm inspection fees (proposed increases from $75 to $100 and from $200 to $300). Chair Jillian Prendergast cited last year’s fee revenue and members asked for clearer cost justification before drafting comments.
The committee reviewed a warrant request from the fire chief (noted in the meeting as Chief Lawless) to raise fire-alarm inspection fees; the draft would increase some fees from $75 to $100 and others from $200 to $300. Chair Prendergast said last year’s total fee revenue was $11,004.75 and estimated the proposed increases would raise revenue by about $5,000.
A committee member pressed for a clearer accounting of monitoring costs and said they were not confident the department should profit from the fee change: "I also don't believe that 16,000 odd dollars is what is the cost of this monitoring is," the member said, questioning whether the increase correlates to actual costs. The committee agreed to ask for a breakdown of monitoring and administration costs before finalizing any comment or recommendation.
