Ironton residents will have to wait until tonight to see if Ironton City Council will pass a proposed municipal fee.

Tuesday, February 27, 2001

Ironton residents will have to wait until tonight to see if Ironton City Council will pass a proposed municipal fee.

Councilman Jesse Roberts made the opening motion to vote on proposed ordinance 01-08, which charges $2.50 to city residents to help curb the financial strain the city is facing and to suspend a rule in the city charter that requires 24-hours to lapse before the third reading.

Section 201 of the city charter requires 24-hours to lapse between the second and third reading of an ordinance, but council has the right to suspend the rule with six votes.

Council members Hugh Scott and Bob Vaughn voted against suspending the rule, requiring city council to meet tonight at 6:30 p.m. in special session.

Council chair Jim Tordiff said, "we were hoping we could get it [the ordinance] up for vote this evening, I don’t know why we wouldn’t suspend the rule because we still could have discussed the ordinance before the vote."

Tordiff added that if a member of council decides to vote against the proposed ordinance they bring ideas on how to ease the financial strain to the table.

Tordiff said, "it is totally unacceptable if someone chooses to vote ‘no’ and not offer an alternative.

No public official likes to increase or enact additional fees. If people have other options, they need to bring it forth."

If the ordinance passes, Ironton residents will see the charge appear on their water bill starting in April 1 of this year. The ordinance will terminate March 31, 2002 unless the city residents vote for an income tax increase or some other former of municipal tax in the November 2001 general election which will cause the municipal fee to stop January 1, 2002. Roberts said there are intentions to have a proposal on the November ballot.