Parkersburg City Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl, left, speaks about a proposed franchise fee on new cable agreements being considered by council during its meeting Tuesday, as Councilman Roger Brown, center, and Councilwoman Wendy Tuck listen. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

PARKERSBURG – City Council approved the first reading of ordinances adding a 5% fee to two renewed cable franchise agreements on Tuesday.

A motion to cut the fee in half after a speaker and officials acknowledged it would be passed along entirely to customers was rejected.

Outside of the meeting, Finance Director Eric Jiles said previous agreements with CAS Cable and Cebridge Acquisition, formerly Suddenlink, did not include a franchise fee for use of the city’s rights of way for transmission lines.

“We are one of the only if not the only municipality of any size that does not assess” such a fee, he said.

A conservative estimate is that the fee would bring in $250,000 a year, Jiles said. The agreements are for five years.

City of Parkersburg Engineer Adam Stout, right, passes out information about pavement preservation techniques the city has been utilizing prior to the start of Tuesday's Parkersburg City Council meeting. Stout and representatives of Strawser Construction Inc. made a presentation on the work during the meeting. (Photo by Evan Bevins)

Parkersburg resident Brian Hayden described the fee as “a tax on the community at large.”

Councilwoman Sharon Kuhl said she hoped charging the fee would give the city some leverage in dealing with cable companies. She said it would cost someone with a $150 cable bill about $7.50 a month.

Council President Mike Reynolds asked if a future reduction in the fee could be used as an incentive for the companies to clean up after doing work like disconnecting customers.

City Attorney Blaine Myers said he doesn’t believe the fee gives the city any leverage over such issues.

“Every dollar that is imposed is passed on to the consumer,” by law, he said.

Mayor Tom Joyce said the fee is one of a limited number of ways the city can raise revenue, noting they can lower or provide exemptions to business and occupation taxes but cannot increase them due to collecting a 1% sales tax.

“This is a fee that we can impose for the use of our right of way,” he said.

Councilwoman Wendy Tuck made a motion to cut the fee to 2.5%, citing other recent increases like sanitation and sewer fees.

“We went straight to the maximum of what we are able to charge,” she said.

Joyce said the city is facing rising costs for everything it does as well.

“I would not have included the franchise fee if I did not think it was necessary and appropriate,” he said.

Only Councilman Zak Huffman voted with Tuck in favor of the amendment, which failed 6-2 with Councilman Dave McCrady absent. The first readings of ordinances for both franchise agreements passed 7-1, with Tuck opposed.

Council voted 8-0 to receive and file the annual reports for the police and fire pensions.

Earlier in the meeting, council heard from city Engineer Adam Stout and representatives of Columbus-based Strawser Construction Inc. about efforts in recent years to restore and preserve asphalt pavement.

“We’ve been really aggressive with our street dollars, not our paving dollars anymore,” Joyce said.

Strawser representatives said the various techniques can preserve asphalt streets for up to 30 years if properly applied.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.