The Taylor Town Council approved renewal last week of the Cable One license agreement for 15 years, with the license fee to remain at two percent.
The agreement gives Cable One the right to use streets and public rights-of-way in the town limits to provide cable service for customers.
The council first discussed raising the license fee from two percent to four percent.
Councilman Carl Cosper expressed concern over increasing the fee because many in the town limits are not able to get Cable One, but the increase would be passed on to the customers.
Presently the town receives $4,000 per year from Cable One. Town Manager Gus Lundberg suggested the license fee be raised to four percent, which is the license fee of other utilities, though he noted that Cable One is not a utility.
Brad Dorsey of Cable One was present to answer questions. He explained that license fees range from two percent to five percent, stating, “We try to keep it as small as we can, because if we raise the rates, we lose customers.
“We put a lot back into our system,” said Dorsey, noting that Cable One is one of the first companies in the state to build a town-to-town fiber optic system, which runs from Pinetop to Winslow.
Mayor Fay Hatch said that four percent is pretty standard, but noted the agreement is for 15 years.
“We’re talking about 70 cents,” said Councilman Dave Smith.
Vice Mayor Shawn Palmer expressed concern for customers and appreciation to Cable One for employing locally. He said he would hate to see this affect the firm’s customer base.
“That’s my biggest thing. You guys are a great employer in the area,” said the vice mayor. “If something happened where they had to eliminate a job or two, that would bite us.”
Councilman Gary Solomon moved to approve the franchise agreement for 15 years with a two percent license fee. The motion passed with Solomon, Palmer, Hatch and Cosper voting in favor of it, and Smith opposing it.
