West Virginia HB 4816: Relating to municipal fire protection fees

Bill Text

WEST VIRGINIA LEGISLATURE

2026 REGULAR SESSION

	Introduced	

FISCAL NOTE

House Bill 4816

By Delegate Burkhammer

[Introduced January 26, 2026; referred to the Committee on the Judiciary]

A BILL to amend and reenact §8-13-13 of the Code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to eliminating municipal fire protection fees on a person or business located outside of the municipalities boundaries if there is a fee imposed by the county. 

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:



ARTICLE 13. TAXATION AND FINANCE.

§8-13-13. Special charges for municipal services.

(a) Notwithstanding any charter provisions to the contrary, a municipality which furnishes any essential or special municipal service, including, but not limited to, police and fire protection, parking facilities on the streets or otherwise, parks and recreational facilities, street cleaning, street lighting, street maintenance and improvement, sewerage and sewage disposal, and the collection and disposal of garbage, refuse, waste, ashes, trash, and any other similar matter, has plenary power and authority, subject to the limitations set forth in subsection (b) of this section, to provide by ordinance for the installation, continuance, maintenance, or improvement of the service, to make reasonable regulations of the service, and to impose by ordinance upon the users of the service reasonable rates, fees, and charges to be collected in the manner specified in the ordinance. 

(b)(1) No Starting January 1, 2026, no new or existing fire protection fee or charge effective on or after June 30, 2024, may be imposed pursuant to this section on a person or business situated outside of the municipality’s boundaries in a county that has imposed a county fire service fee pursuant to §7-17-12 of this code unless the municipality has entered into an intergovernmental agreement, which complies with the limitations set forth in subdivision (2) of this subsection, with the county commission having jurisdiction over any such person or business.

(2) The intergovernmental agreement referenced in subdivision (1) of this subsection must include, but is not limited to, the following terms:

(A) The municipality’s fire protection fees and charges shall be limited to those persons and businesses located within first due areas covered by fire protection services sourced out of the municipality; and 

(B) The municipality’s fire protection fees and charges shall be the same for all persons and businesses located within and outside of the municipality’s boundaries; and

(C) Under no circumstances may any person or business be required to pay both a municipal fire protection fee or charge pursuant to this section and a county fire service fee pursuant to §7-17-12 of this code, except for the pro-rata reconciliation during the first year after passage as set forth in paragraph (D) of this subdivision; and

(D) If any persons and businesses located within first due areas have paid their county fire service fee during the first year after the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted during the 2025 Regular Legislative Session, then (i) any municipality’s fire protection fees and charges imposed by the municipality shall be limited to the difference, if any, between the county’s fire service fee and the municipality’s fire protection fees and charges within its municipal boundaries; and (ii) the county shall transfer its fire service fee revenues received from all persons and businesses located within first due areas that are covered by the intergovernmental agreement to the municipality; and

(E) After the first year following the effective date of the amendments to this section enacted during the 2025 Regular Legislative Session, persons and businesses located within first due areas covered by the intergovernmental agreement between the county commission and the municipality shall be subject only to the same municipal fire protection fees and charges which the municipality charges all other residents and businesses within its municipal boundaries.  

(F) The intergovernmental agreement shall expire five years after the agreement becomes effective. The agreement may be renewed for successive additional terms of no more than five years each. 

(3) Notwithstanding subdivisions (1) and (2) of this subsection, any municipality may increase or decrease, in accordance with this section, a fire protection fee or charge that was in effect prior to June 30, 2024, so long as such increase or decrease is uniform for all persons and businesses that are subject to the municipality’s fire protection fees and charges, whether by residency within municipal boundaries or by being subject controlling intergovernmental agreement.

 (c) Any sewerage and sewage disposal service and any service incident to the collection and disposal of garbage, refuse, waste, ashes, trash, and any other similar matter is subject to the provisions of Chapter 24 of this code.

 (d) A