(Houston) City Council agrees to raise about 150 fees (Democrat leadership in action TAX TAX TAX)

Houston Chronicle ^ | Dec. 15, 2010, 9:11PM | BRADLEY OLSON

[a fool in paradise]

Houstonians should be prepared to pay more to fix their cars, make minor home repairs and renew neighborhood association dues now that the City Council has voted to raise more than 150 fees by an average of 25 percent, according to a handful of contractors and business associations.

Johnny Gibbs, owner of Lighthouse Electric, predicted Houstonians will balk at paying the higher fees for simple jobs like changing out a ceiling fan or replacing a light fixture.

He usually charges only $50 to $75 for that kind of work, but now the minimum permit fee for the contractor, which went up from $45 to $70, will cost as much as the job. Businesses generally pass the fee on to consumers.

"Nobody's going to want to pay that," Gibbs said.

The fee hikes have led him to consider taking his business outside the city limits.

"How much is enough?" he said. "How much money does the city need to be happy and to quit charging us more money all the time, because we can't afford it anymore?"

"What we're talking about are not core services in the city," Mayor Annise Parker told the council Wednesday. All Houstonians should not have to subsidize the costs for select permits, fees and services that are used by only a select few, she said.

The vote to enact the fee hikes was 11 to 3, with council members C.O. Bradford, Mike Sullivan and Jolanda Jones voting no.

Building permit fees are to go up Jan. 1, but the remaining fee hikes were effective immediately. The fees now will be a part of the city's annual budget process, increasing or decreasing based on the cost of service and inflation...

[stevie_d_64]

Well, instead of cutting the deficit, they raised the fees to cover the overages...

Way to go City Counsel, Mayor...

Maybe if you’d have furloughed yerselves for about a month, and done so for all other city services that are not Fire and Police related, we might have had a better time getting the ledger to come together...