Keokuk council gives initial approval to raise natural gas franchise fee to 5%

The Keokuk City Council gave initial approval to amend the city code to raise the natural gas franchise fee from the current 2% to as much as 5%, the limit the council said is allowed under state law.

At a public hearing opened by Mayor (speaker 2), staff reported that a public notice was published and that no written or oral objections had been filed. Jim (speaker 1), who explained the item during council discussion, said the proposal mirrors an earlier change the council made to the electric franchise fee and is intended to help balance the city budget.

“If approved on the three readings, [the change] would go into effect on January 1,” Jim said. He told the council the increase is part of steps the city has discussed to reach a balanced fiscal-year budget.

Council requested a roll-call vote on the ordinance’s initial reading and recorded unanimous approval; the mayor asked whether there was interest in waiving the second and third readings and there was no request to do so. The council did not receive public comment during the hearing.

Next steps: the ordinance will return for its second and third readings before taking effect on a date specified by the council if adopted on all readings.