Supervisors agree to reimburse fire company; board also adopts fire escrow ordinance

Walker Township supervisors have agreed to reimburse New England Fire Company to help offset some of its expenses.

Also on Thursday, supervisors unanimously agreed to adopt a fire escrow ordinance dealing with a fire loss claim.

Supervisors unanimously voted to give New England Fire Company $1,516 as part of money that was left over in last year’s budget.

The extra money came in line items, which were budgeted for fire company expenses for covering one-third of their building expenses, and for fuel expenses.

Not all the money budgeted for those items were utilized last year, so the fire company had asked if that money could be reallocated to cover some of the miscellaneous fire safety expenses they had previously submitted for reimbursement, but their budget of $1,350 for miscellaneous fire equipment had already been used up.

The $1,516 was approved to be reallocated and to cover miscellaneous fire safety expenses.

Supervisor Craig Wagner said he had no problem doing so, “As long as it was budgeted for.”

Supervisors agreed to adopt the fire escrow ordinance, which will provide that in certain fire losses, the insurer having a policy with respect to such loss shall transfer insurance proceeds to the treasurer of the township, to be used to pay delinquent taxes and other municipal claims or held as security and used to pay the total cost of removing, repairing or securing the damaged building, and providing for penalties for violations.

The ordinance requires an insurance company paying a fire loss claim to obtain a certificate from the township relating to delinquent taxes and municipal claims, to pay any taxes and claims from the policy proceeds, and possibly pay over a portion of policy proceeds to the township to be held in escrow to cover the costs of removing, repairing or securing the damaged structure, and providing for penalties for violations.