A hiker rescued Tuesday after hurting his ankle on a steep Colorado hillside may feel the pain in his pocketbook -- he could be charged more than $10,000.

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Golden firefighters led the rescue effort in Clear Creek Canyon even though David Seals was trapped outside the city's jurisdiction, said KCNC-TV in Denver. It took rescue crews several hours to lower the Kansas man 600 feet.

Sabrina D'Agosta, Golden's communications manager, said taxpayer money is used for rescues within the city limits.

"Our collection rate is fairly low," D'Agosta told KCNC-TV. "It's about 20 percent of the time, and we negotiate in cases of hardship and we do also send a lot of those to collections."

The hiker also will be billed $2,400 by the West Metro Fire Department, which had nine people work seven hours of overtime.