The Joliet City Council will vote Tuesday on a contract to hire an outside company to collect fees for fire department calls ranging from fires and car accidents to hazardous material spills.
Joliet residents will not have to pay the fees if their insurance companies do not cover them, but out-of-towners will be charged regardless of whether they are covered by insurance, Assistant City Attorney Chris Regis told the council Monday at a workshop meeting.
There also is a clause allowing the city to charge people who engage in "reckless acts" such as setting fires, Regis said.
Joliet already has the ability to collect fees on such incidents but should collect more under the contract with Fire Recovery USA, he said.
"What this program is designed to do is recover money already out there being offered by insurance company coverage that exists," Regis said. "We are apparently not recovering what we should by nationwide standards."