Athens City Council met in committees on Monday to discuss possible fee increases.
Service-Safety Director Andrew Stone said the fee increases are in one document due to the council’s request to put forward as many fee increases at once as possible.
One of the proposed fee increases was to parking. Stone said his office reviewed parking demand in the city, looking for high, medium and low-intensity zones as well as the parking garage; he proposed a 25 cent increase an hour for all mentioned zones.
Another fee increase that was discussed is a 4% rise in base sewer fees.
“For the base rate, that’s the first 1,000 gallons anyone pays, and then 2% increase for each additional 1,000 gallons based upon … whether they’d be residential, commercial or industrial,” Stone said.
Councilmember Alan Swank, D-4th ward, suggested Council split the ordinance into three categories: administrative, sewer and parking garage fees.
Swank said he felt there were problems with some of the fee increases that would outweigh the good, and separating them into categories would help avoid an ordinance with more harms than benefits.
