Nearly six months after becoming law, a measure changing how money is allocated to volunteer fire companies is showing results.
Insurance companies in Delaware pay a yearly tax on the total value of premiums. Much of that revenue then goes to volunteer fire companies statewide, based on their location. But, state insurance and fire officials found that companies in New Castle County outside of Wilmington were being shortchanged.
“There are zip codes that obviously are in the city and outside of the city, like 19805 for example," Insurance Commissioner Trinidad Navarro explains. "So insurance companies, in many cases, they were just sending the funds to us, but allocated under the city of Wilmington jurisdiction.”
That meant money intended for county volunteer fire departments was instead going to Wilmington. Lawmakers unanimously passed a bill to address the problem last year, taking effect January 1. That measure parsed out zip codes more accurately, Navarro says.
Now fire companies outside Wilmington are seeing more money coming their way.
“Two years ago they received - it was under a million dollars, and this year they received approximately $1.25 million each. So the increase was significant," Navarro says.
The law also gives the Department of Insurance more time to verify the accuracy of location data used by insurance companies.
