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Wellsville council changes zoning fees
By Liz Maudsley
WELLSVILLE - Instead of charging a set fee, the City of Wellsville will now charge $25 an hour for zoning and surveying land. The City Council passed a resolution and code amendment to adjust fees for zoning and subdivisions on Wednesday night. When a citizen makes a request for a subdivision or an annexation, she pays the City of Wellsville for zoning and surveying the land. City Councilman Kent Brenchley said if you take the amount of work we are actually doing for the person and equate the hours, the citizens will benefit. "We've talked about doing this for some time," said Mayor Ruth Maughan. City Manager Don Hartle said the change is a moral improvement as well. "I don't think it is right to have the citizens pay for things that they haven't requested," said Hartle. "We need to have some input from the public. We go the extra mile. We don't want them to say they weren't aware of what they were paying for." The Council also discussed a Utah Department of Transportation audit report. In 1992, Wellsville wanted to widen the highway through Sardine Canyon. UDOT approached Wellsville about moving the waterline that ran through the middle of the canyon. UDOT specifically mentioned upgrading the 10-inch water pipe to a pipe 14 inches in diameter. When UDOT first proposed the upgrades eight years ago, the estimated cost of the project was close to $331,825. Wellsville signed a contract stating they would pay 15.5 percent and UDOT would pay the remainder. "UDOT has never billed us," said Hartle. Though Wellsville has never received an official billing from UDOT, it did receive an audit report showing it owed $128,000 - nearly double the 15 percent they agreed to pay. Hartle said there are a few minor mistakes that need to be taken care of. "I'm quite concerned about it," Councilman Bradley White said. "There is the right hand doing one thing and the left hand doing the accounting." Hartle requested the Council's permission to write a letter to UDOT and make the necessary contacts to straighten out the situation. "We need to write a letter telling them we disagree and why we disagree," he said. "We need to tell them exactly how we feel." Maughan said Wellsville has no problems with paying what they originally agreed to. "If they will take care of the extra 52,000, then that is right in
the ballpark we thought we would be." |
Archived Months:
September
1998 |
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