A majority of the Sycamore City Council voted Monday in favor of charging new fees for Sycamore Fire Department responses.

Now, depending on what equipment is used and personnel respond, if Sycamore firefighters respond to a car crash, a fee could be charged to the insurance of the person deemed at fault for the wreck.

Sycamore City Manager Michael Hall said if insurance won’t cover everything charged, the city won’t ask individuals for the difference.

“The billing company will charge an insurance company, and we will collect as much as we can on that,“ Hall said. ”If there’s a remaining balance, that is written off."

After getting the approval of the Sycamore City Council in a 6-2 vote, the city can now charge a $250 per hour fee for responding vehicles that don’t transport a civilian from the scene of a crash, according to city documents. A $70-per-hour fee can also be charged per non-transport first responders.

The resolution allows a fee to be imposed when the Sycamore Fire Department responds to a motor vehicle crash and must mitigate a hazard, suppress a fire, extricate a victim, or establish a landing zone for a medical helicopter.

During Monday’s meeting, 1st Ward Alderman Alan Bauer – who presided over the meeting while Sycamore Mayor Steve Braser was on vacation – said he wasn’t sure if $250 was enough.

Hall said he estimated the cost for an average response to be $920. The money the city will receive from the fees will go into the general fund.

Not everyone will have to be charged, however. City officials will be able to reduce or waive those fees at their discretion.

Before the Sycamore City Council approved the new fees, 4th Ward Alderman David Stouffer proposed adding a second layer of oversight when those fees aren’t applied. Originally, only the Sycamore fire chief would be able to waive or reduce the fees, but now, after a 7-1 vote to amend the resolution, the city manager will also have to approve any waivers or reductions.

Documents show that DeKalb has charged fees – called cost recovery programs by both cities – for similar fire department activity since at least 2011.

When asked why the city had yet to implement the fees, despite state law allowing it for more than two decades, Hall said the city’s billing company had previously not been able to provide the service.

Interim Sycamore Fire Chief Mike Thomas said discussions on how to categorize and log chargeable actions have already taken place throughout the department. That training was another reason Hall said the city had not yet implemented a cost recovery program. City documents show the cost recovery program was brought before city officials as a request from the fire department.

Thomas retired from the DeKalb Fire Department in 2025, after 30 years of service, before answering a request from Sycamore officials in February 2026 to helm the Sycamore Fire Department after former Fire Chief Bart Gilmore was placed on paid administrative leave.

Third Ward Alerman Marvin Barnes and 2nd Ward Alderman Chuck Stowe were the two members of City Council to vote against the new charges. Stowe said he was “a little concerned about” the concept.

“It seems that certain duties of the city, fire, protection and emergency response is sort of intrinsic,” Stowe said. “We normally assume it’s paid for by our taxes, and I’m real hesitant to start billing people. ... I think that’s something that should be covered by the city, that should be covered by normal taxes, not an extra fee.”

Barnes said he agrees with Stowe. “The thing I worry about is, OK, are we going to do police calls next? We do ambulance, now we’re going to do fire, is police calls next, and where do we stop?”

Third Ward Alderwoman Nancy Copple said, “We don’t, then we’d be public works.”