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Public Inconvenience Fee Brings in $14,000 for Columbia

The city of Columbia has generated around $14,000 since implementing a public inconvenience fee last December. The city’s building and site development manager Shane Creech said the city implemented the fee to encourage developers to finish construction in a timely manner.

He said people expressed concern that contractors were taking advantage of the city’s sidewalks, parking spaces and traffic lanes as available work space.

The fee collects 20 cents for each foot of sidewalk, 30 cents for each foot of parking lane and 35 cents for each foot of traffic lane closed per day. It applies city-wide, even though the majority of the funding comes from the downtown area.

For the first seven days there is no cost to block right-of-ways, but after that, the city requires compensation, Creech said. If finished before the completion date, Creech said, the contractor will be fully refunded.

“It gives incentive to save money and open the city back up,” Creech said.

He says the majority of the $14,000 came from the current construction on Walnut Street, which has lasted over a year. Creech said everything else this past fiscal year has been small projects such as closing sidewalks for two weeks.

He also said one of the city’s goals is to use the money to improve its own sidewalks and traffic lanes. Creech said the city is still deciding how they will use the revenue.