Franklin is in the last year of the optional one-year renewals as residents each month are paying $14.34 a month and a city $2.71 administrative fee.
Starting Oct. 1, residents will pay 66 cents more to $15 a month for 2020-21, a 38-cent increase to $15.38 a month in 2021-22 and another 38-cent increase $15.76 a month in 2022-23. The $2.71 monthly administrative fee will also continue.
City Manager Sonny Lewis said council may want to consider increasing the monthly $2.71 administrative fee as it has not been raised in 12 years. He suggested raising it by $1 starting with the new Rumpke rates, then adding a small increase annually based on the cost of living index.
In other business:
- Council approved a resolution to authorize the city manager to enter an agreement to purchase electricity for the city’s electricity aggregation program. This would allow the city to obtain the most competitive price and enable the city manager to enter a contract for the supply electricity which requires municipality to accept a proposal within hours after it is submitted. The current agreement runs through May 2021. If a proposal is recommended by the city’s energy consultant/broker and is below the city’s current rate and would be in effect from one to three years, then the city manager could enter the agreement with the supplier.
- Council also approved the annual ordinance that assesses property owners for city street lighting for 2021. This was the final step in the multiple annual process to cover the annual street light costs, which is $170,000 divided among the city’s property owners. The city funds 2% or about $3,400.
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