Get Full Government Meeting Transcripts, Videos, & Alerts Forever!
Get email alerts on the Transportation Fee topic
No spam. Unsubscribe anytime.
Groves council approves $47,500 street-fee study, three-year pavement assessment and a temporary $1 utility bill fee
Summary
The Groves City Council approved a $47,500 feasibility study to set transportation-use rates, authorized a three-year pavement condition assessment, and adopted a temporary $1 transportation use fee on utility bills to fund the work; the fee will appear starting in March and sunsets after 12 months.
Groves City Council on Feb. 9 approved a $47,500 contract with New Gen Strategies & Solutions to study a transportation use fee, authorized a three-year pavement and asset assessment with Civil Inc., and adopted a temporary $1 transportation use fee on utility bills to pay for those studies and initial street work.
Mr. Bruce, a city staff member who presented the proposal, said the New Gen fee study will calculate trip-generation multipliers by parcel type and recommend how to apportion charges across residential and commercial users. "This is just for the analysis," Bruce said, explaining the study provides the formulas and multipliers that council will later use to set any permanent fee.
The council also authorized a three-year agreement with Civil Inc. for a pavement condition assessment and an asset-management platform. City staff described Civil's approach as a lower-cost model in which the city drives equipment provided by the vendor; staff said the city retains ownership of the collected data and the contract includes a street-sign inventory.
To fund the two studies, council adopted Ordinance 2026-04, establishing a temporary $1 line item on utility bills for all active residential and commercial accounts, beginning in March and set to sunset after 12 months unless extended by council. Mr. Ruth, a city staff member who explained the billing impact, said the city has about 6,100 active utility accounts and that government-owned accounts (for example, school district properties) would be exempt. "This would be a separate line item on the utility bill and it could only be used for street-related purposes," Ruth said.
Council members asked how the studies would be used and how long they would take. Staff said the New Gen study is a firm fixed price intended to produce recommended rate multipliers and that the pavement assessment typically takes several months and will produce condition scores to inform a multi-year repair plan. The pavement contract was described as a three-year agreement and staff said the city would not be locked into a specific road-repair sequence; the professional assessments provide objective data for council decisions.
Council approved the agreements and the temporary fee by roll-call votes. Next steps included staff finalizing contracts, establishing the encumbered street-maintenance fund, and beginning the advertised fee on utility bills in March.
