The city of Arlington will mail out the first round of bills Monday Oct. 1, 2012 to natural gas drillers, who will begin paying a $2,397 annual fee per well to fund a new emergency preparedness and response program.

Arlington is the first city in the Barnett Shale to launch such a program, designed to help firefighters better prevent and respond to natural gas releases and other problems.

The city has more than 300 gas wells. The fee is expected to generate about $800,000 a year, allowing the city to hire six more firefighters and to train and equip 42 current firefighters for the creation of two response teams.

The city plans to send bills quarterly so operators don't have to pay the fee on all their wells at once, Fire Chief Don Crowson said.

A lawsuit over the fee is pending. The Texas Oil & Gas Association and the Texas Independent Producers & Royalty Owners Association sued Arlington in May, saying the city is trying to unfairly "expand its revenues by taxing a single industry."