CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — The City of Corpus Christi is looking to make those residents who live outside the city limits to start paying for fire service.
The fire chief made a presentation to city council members concerning the issue. One which is basically directed at the quickly growing London area
"I can’t believe the fire department or someone like that would charge us out here if we needed their services," London area resident Jim Stout said. "At the same time I don’t want to make a real big deal out of it because I’m not annexed and I don’t want to be annexed.”
Stout who is one of many London area residents who do not want to be annexed by the City. Fire officials said the area is a "no man’s land." That’s because there is no guaranteed City services provided in the area for police and fire protection when they’re outside the city limits. But still, when an emergency arises first responders show up.
"In the last quarter, which is the last three months we made 10 calls and we billed basically $3000 but you’re only getting $300 a call from the county?" Dale Scott, Chief of Emergency Services for District 2 said. "So, how do you make up the rest of that money? You basically just eat it.”
Scott told 3News that there have been 41 fire calls made out in the London area since the beginning of the year that his department worked.
Corpus Christi Fire Chief Robert Rocha made a presentation to City Council on the proposed fee schedule for London area residents to pay for fire service.
He’ll be back before Council later in the month.
"The next step is going to be a formal presentation on the 28th, which is in two weeks and that presentation will lay out what the next steps are," Rocha said. "But, we would seek to put this into affect as quickly as we could.”
Corpus Christi Councilman Roland Barrera said it’s time for London residents to pay their fair share.
"As our community grows we just have to recognize that people just have to pay for the services," Barrera said. "Because you or I as a taxpayer, that live within the city limits, we are basically subsidizing that."
3News also contacted London schools because they too are not in the city limits. Their spokeswoman said before they make a comment they are going to wait and see what the City is going to start charging for its fire protection.
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