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City of Corpus Christi looking to increase service fees

One of the fee increases council-members were being asked to sign off on was for solid waste.

CORPUS CHRISTI, Texas — A slew of rate increases for City services could come from your pocket book. Everything from ambulance fees, to hiking the rent price at the Corpus Christi Marina.

Also seeing an increase, is city construction fees, some seeing an increase of 10%.

One of the fee increases council-members were being asked to sign off on was for solid waste. That includes the residential fee going up by $1.15 a month while commercial collection was being set at $2.24 a month. Also, the city wanting to raise the price to use the landfill and the transfer station.

"You know the trash trucks get about two or three miles per-gallon right?" said Corpus Christi Councilman Gil Hernandez. "Fuel costs have gone up significantly, they've come down a little bit but diesel fuel is still quite expensive."

The marina is another place that the city is looking to raise prices for services. The new rate would cost some boat owners up to 60 more dollars a month.

"We do have a lot of fees that are being looked at comprehensively because they've not gone up, for example the marina," said Corpus Christi Mayor Paulette Guajardo. "In our marina we're not where we need to be, we're still working on the development of that marina, but that's a good one to say it's been stale for years."

Barrera added that the City is looking at making sure the fees are fair and balanced.

"New commercial permits, new commercial construction, those fees are obviously low in comparison to the rest of the state. Now we don't wanna be an Austin, Texas where we're charging fees for everything," Barrera said. "We don't want to undermine the fees that prohibits expansion but we need to get somewhere where we've got that happy median."

The fees Barrera was talking about could go up by 10%. The City is also looking to raise the base fare for a cab from $2.50 to $3.50 due to the higher gas prices and inflation.

Stormwater costs are also set to go up for all ratepayers. There was also even a proposed increase for 911 fees. For a residential phone, the current fee is $1.60 and would go up to $1.80. The City saying that equipment and personnel costs are the reason for the increase.

"Staff recommendation will come with justification as to why those increases are what they are," Guajardo said.

Finally, the fire department asked for and got a 3% increase on the cost for a ride in a city ambulance. That will bring in another $211,000 to purchase new equipment and supplies for those ambulances.

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