The Carroll City Council will be meeting on Monday, Jan. 8 for their first regular meeting of the calendar year. City Manager, Mike Pogge-Weaver, says that one thing that has come up as a timely item on the agenda is the possibility of raising cable franchise fees on Carroll Area Access Television, known as CAAT6. They have already entered into discussions on changes that may be required in the very near future.
Pogge-Weaver says that many people are unaware of the scope of service of their broadcasts.
One of the funding sources to pay for these services is the cable franchise fee. These fees are charged to two area cable providers, Mediacom and Western Iowa Networks (WIN). Over the past four fiscal years, the city has received between $69,000 and $72,200 in franchise fees to be used to offset operational costs. The remaining $46,000 to $48,000 collected offsets general fund operations. The current fee is set at three percent, but state statute allows them to raise it up to five percent. This is, at the least, Pogge-Weaver says, a discussion item for the council to consider a raise to four percent as they move into budgeting time. He adds, there may be a little urgency behind it.
There has been some conflicting information, so Pogge-Weaver says they are not sure whether they will be required to take action prior to that deadline date or not. Ideally, they would be able to have a long discussion and take action at a later meeting. However, since the contracts are only renewed every 10 years, they may have to make sure that a decision is made prior to the Jan. 14 deadline. The city council meeting will begin promptly at 5:15 p.m. in the second-floor council chambers at the Farner Government Building. The public is invited to attend.
