City Council To Reassess Fees For Several City Services
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- Hold on to your wallet if you do business with the city of Philadelphia.
City council agreed on Thursday to hold hearings on the fees the city charges for a wide array of services.
Councilman Allan Domb suspects the city might be paying more to provide some services than it's charging those who use them.
"We found that many fees are 20-30 years old and haven't been brought up to date. Some fees haven't been changed since the 1980's," said Domb.
Council raised a host of fees five weeks ago for parking lots, amusements, even newspaper honor boxes, but Domb says court filing fees, licensing and Inspection services, and others still need updating and council needs a way to regularly assess them to keep them current.
"In any business, every year, you would look at the fee you're charging," Domb said.
Domb, a successful businessman himself, is something of a fiscal conservative, regularly calling for reigning in city costs. He says fee increases are consistent with that.
"We want to make sure the fees reflect the services we're providing. When they don't reflect the services we're providing, the city of Philadelphia winds up footing the bill," said Domb.
