The Senate Government Organization Committee approved a committee substitute for Senate Bill 601 that would prohibit municipalities from imposing a fire service fee on residents or businesses outside municipal limits without approval from the county commission and would prevent a household from being charged both a municipal and county fire fee.

Counsel explained that the substitute aligns municipal protest rights with existing county protest procedures and reproduces the county protest language in the proposed statute. “So it’s virtually identical with the way in which you protest a county fire fee,” Counsel said, describing the protest mechanism and the petition threshold that triggers an election.

Under the substitute, residents outside a municipality who are charged a municipal fire fee may petition to require an election. Counsel said petitioners must gather signatures from 30% of the registered voters in the area being charged to trigger a binding election, and that the petitioned question is decided by a majority vote.

Several municipal and county officials and the State Fire Marshal told the committee how the change could affect local response. Jerry Marco, mayor of the city of Elkins, said his city provides first-response coverage outside the city limits and warned that allowing retroactive protests could reduce department staff. “If you're going to go back and allow everyone to protest, my fire department realistically go from non paid off or fire off or firefighters down to 3,” Mayor Jerry Marco said, describing the potential operational impact if revenue were lost.

Susan Economo of the West Virginia Municipal League said cities often provide first-response services in “first due” areas outside city limits and that removing revenue could force cities to “rejigger” response plans. The committee also heard from Melanie Lehi, representing the County Commission Association, and Kenneth Tyrese, the State Fire Marshal, who described the geography of some first‑due areas and noted municipalities sometimes choose to collect fees under West Virginia Code §8‑13‑13 rather than accept county levy revenue.

Committee members asked procedural questions about grandfathering and whether the bill would be retroactive; Counsel and the State Fire Marshal said the bill is prospective and would not strip existing fees that were lawfully charged before enactment. After discussion the vice chair moved that the committee substitute for SB 601 be reported to the full Senate with the recommendation that it do pass; the committee voice vote carried and the motion was declared adopted.

The committee did not take additional amendments during the hearing. Testimony and questions focused on protecting first-response capacity while giving residents outside municipal boundaries an opportunity to contest fees charged to them.