The Springfield City Council approved a bid for cost recovery services for the fire department Tuesday.

The council agreed to use Billing Solutions of Springfield for the service. The cost will be 9 percent of funds collected. City council approved an ordinance for cost recovery billing a few months ago.

Fire Chief Bubba Rahn said the contract would be yearly, and the council could look at another company at the end of the year if it was not happy with the service provided.

Rahn said the company works for the county and is very familiar with the billing process.

Rahn said this type of service is not new to the industry, but is new to the fire department and will help recover the cost of services provided when the fire department is called.

“Departments realized they had to recoup the cost of their daily runs,” he said. “The budget you receive helps you be there in case something happens, well now you have to replace what you use when something does happen.”

Mayor Barton Alderman asked Rahn if he had an idea of how much the fire department could recoup.

Rahn said Covenant Billing Corporation looked at a year’s worth of reports to determine how much the fire department could have recovered and told him they could have gotten the department between $10,000 and $15,000 for that year.

Rahn told the council the fees are from the amount collected and if no funds are collected, the city does not pay for the service.