"Business" of User Fees - US Fire Administration - Federal ...

13revenue source and as a way to gain compliance under the fire code. Inspection feescan however, act as a “double-edged sword”. The willingness to correct violations bythe occupant during the inspection has increased among those charging fire inspectionfees. There was however, some concern that inspection fees can harm the relationshipthe department has with the business community and may have a negative effect on thefire prevention program (Godwin, 1995). This concern has prompted many to be morein favor of charging for re-inspections than initial inspections. “Charging a fee for theseservices may only increase resistance to regular inspections. However, it may be wiseto begin charging for the increasing numbers of re-inspections” (Wenke, 1995, p. 16).Dean (1995) suggests that “Fees charged for inspections that are required by thedepartment or municipality may cause some political or legal problems, however feesfor re-inspections are quite different” (p. 5).Fees associated with false fire alarms are also popular because of theircompliance value. Similar to fees that police departments’ charge for responding tofalse burglar alarms, the fire service has begun to address concerns over the amount offalse alarms responses. Oak Brook, Illinois a highly commercialized village in themetropolitan Chicago area found that out of 600-700 calls per year to alarms systems,more than 80% were false (Nielsen, 1995). “Each false alarm response created somedanger for the public and the firefighters. Valuable resources are used unnecessarily,and the units are not available for actual fires or other calls”(FEMA, 1993, p. 55).Charging a fee for these types of responses helps address the concern of alarm systemmaintenance and provides safety for firefighters and the public. Most agencies that