MORGANTOWN – The feedback was not unexpected.
In March, Morgantown City Council broached the topic of a potential increase to its $3 Safe Streets & Safe Community Fee – commonly referred to as a user fee – collected from the paychecks of every person working within city limits.
On Tuesday, council conducted its first public workshop as part of a new format for its informal committee of the whole meetings held on the final Tuesday each month.
While that work session, which was attended by a few dozen residents, was focused on the city’s fiscal sustainability as a whole, and included breakdowns of revenue streams and expenses across the organization, user fees were top of mind for many.
“In terms of the folks I talked to, you know, I don’t think anyone is terribly excited about the possibility of fees going up, and that’s not surprising. People are stretched thin right now. Everybody’s had to tighten their belts a little bit,” Councilor Mark Downs said. “Even the prospect of an additional dollar a week doesn’t sell real well right now in this economic climate.”
It was previously explained that if the city’s user fee had been keeping up with inflation since its Jan. 1, 2016 enactment, the weekly fee today would be $4.11. The difference represents about $1.3 million.
In other words, the fee adopted specifically to maintain city streets and provide police protection has about 36% less purchasing power today compared to when it was implemented.
Even so, it’s a tough sell.
The services supported by the fee include providing equipment for the city’s police and public works personnel, as well as funds dedicated for paving, resurfacing, cleaning, maintenance and winter treatment of public streets, medians and sidewalks. According to the city’s website, the breakdown of the $3 weekly fee is $1.77 for streets and public works, and $1.23 for the MPD.
It’s been noted that the city’s annual summer/fall paving project – a major target of user fee funds – was postponed last year and is expected to take place this spring.
“I think there’s a lot of pushback on that,” Mayor Danielle Trumble said of the increase. “My personal feeling on it is the city did not even get paving done last year. Now, that’s starting to take place, but until we are showing that we are being great stewards of the money that we are getting, maybe it’s a bad time to ask for more. I certainly want to see the city in a great financial position and able to provide the services that people expect, but I think we need to build the trust more before we ask for additional funds.”
As for the initial workshop, Downs said he was pleased with both the presentation of data and the turnout.
“It’s something that several of us pushed hard for and worked really hard to get established. Communication, having a dialogue with the community, transparency, openness and just being available to our stakeholders is hugely important,” he said.
