Lexington's Urban County Council on Thursday gave final approval to a 1 percent increase to a franchise fee on gas and electric utility bills and a slight increase in some property taxes.
The franchise fee is the fee that local governments assess on utility bills.
The money — projected to be an extra $1 to $2 each month for a household that gets a bill of $100 to $200 each month — will go into the city's general fund, which will subsidize the streetlight program. The city has a backlog of 400 to 500 streetlights that need to be installed.
The council on Thursday also gave approval to an increase in property taxes for street cleaning.
The current rate for street sweeping on property taxes is 0.0094 per $100. The new rate would be 0.0097 per $100, a 2.8 percent increase.
A homeowner who is receiving street cleaning services from the city and who is living in a home costing $165,000 is now paying $15.51 annually for street cleaning. Under the proposed increase, that same homeowner would pay $15.95 each year.
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