Cheyenne City Councilman Dicky Shanor says that while the city sanitation department clearly needs more money, he would back a smaller fee increase over more years to raise the needed funds.

The Cheyenne City Council Finance Committee on Monday voted 2-1 in favor of an eight percent sanitation fee increase which would take effect on July 1. That amount is keeping with a study conducted for the city which recommended an eight percent increase in fees in each of the next five years to keep the department operational and pay for several projects.

Public Works Director Vicki Nemecek is proposing increases over the next four years since the first year of the increases recommended by the consultant  has already passed.

But Shanor notes that study was conducted before the council passed a resolution put forward by himself and then-councilman Sean Allen to cap the amount of money raised by the sanitation department that goes to the general fund at no more than five percent.

That works out to about $500,000 for the upcoming fiscal year,compared with roughly $1.5 million from sanitation to the general fund previously.

Shanor also says there is no reason the increases couldn't be spread out over several years to lessen the immediate impact on ratepayers. He says he plans an putting forward an amendment to increase the fees by only five percent starting July 1, with the  increase in fees to be kept around four or five percent annually over roughly a 5-6 year period.

Shanor says he would also like to ''turn the tables" and use some of the general fund's projected $2 million surplus to help fund sanitation operations.

Shanor says he plans to put forward his amendment on Monday night, but admits it's almost impossible to predict whether or not it will win approval.

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