The recent increase to Charleston's city service fee is projected to add more than $1.3 million in revenue in the next fiscal year.
City Council's Finance Committee voted Monday night to amend the fiscal 2016 budget to reflect a 50-cent increase to the city service fee.
The service fee, also known as a user fee, will now charge $2.50 per week to everyone who works in the city limits, regardless of residency.
City Manager David Molgaard said at the meeting that the amendment will budget about $620,000, or six months worth of that increase for the remainder of the fiscal year ending June 30. About $18,000 of that will go toward replacing a police vehicle that was totaled in an accident, Molgaard said.
The user fee, which previously brought in more than $5 million in annual revenue, may only be used for street maintenance projects or police services.
City Finance Director Joe Estep explained after the meeting that roughly $1.65 million is allocated from user fee collections and placed into a capital outlay projects fund. That money is used for the city's annual paving program as well as retaining wall and slip repairs.
"If any of these things affect the stability of the road, then it [comes from] the user fees," Estep said.
The user fee also covers the cost of smaller projects such as potholes and curb repairs, as well as purchasing salt and snow removal.
"We pay $450,000 to buy salt every year, and last year it cost us $200,000 in manpower to put it down," Estep said.
The remaining money from user fee revenue stays in the general fund and is meant to offset other expenses relating to street maintenance or police services.
Estep said when he puts together the fiscal 2017 draft budget, the increased user fee revenues will likely project around $6.7 million.
"Then, council will decide how they want to divvy that up," he said.
At City Council on Monday, Council voted to:
Authorize the mayor to administer more than $138,000 in grant funds from the state Department of Military Affairs and Public Safety to purchase new equipment for the city fire department's Regional Response Team.
Authorize the mayor to administer $15,000 in grant funds from the state Division of Culture and History for developing design guidelines for the East End Historic District. Approve a request by the West Virginia Center for African-American Art and Culture to rename two blocks of Lewis Street between Dickinson Street and Leon Sullivan Way to John Norman Street.
Also on Monday, Mayor Danny Jones and Councilwoman Jeanine Faegre, representing Ward 5, commended the city's police department for the additional resources it's given to the city's West Side in light of three homicides committed there last week.
"If one person wants to shoot another, you cannot prevent it," Jones said, but said the department's diligence to apprehend the offenders has been "incredible."
"We had three murders in six days; two were solved, [with the suspects] arrested and locked up, in four days," he said.
Reach Elaina Sauber at elaina.sauber@wvgazettemail.com, 304-348-3051 or follow @ElainaSauber on Twitter.