Ask the Mayor –

A column started by McMinnville Mayor Royce Davenport to inform citizens about how city government works has received its first question.

Anyone with a question about city government is encouraged to send it to Davenport. The address is: Ask the Mayor, P.O. Box 7088, McMinnville, Tenn., 37111.

Question: Why does the city police department charge more than 50 cents per sheet to copy? I read in your article in the local paper that city hall only charges 50 cents per copy.

? Charlie Turner, McMinnville

Answer: Congratulations! You are the first person to send me a question under the ?Ask the Mayor? program.

The city has set fees for many of its services provided to individual citizens. These fee amounts are usually set by one of the board?s committees of three aldermen. Which committee is usually determined by which department will collect the fee, or in case of multiple departments, the Finance Committee.

While the city-wide charge per page for copies is 50 cents per page, there are base charges for some documents such as an accident report. An accident report has six pages, is under secure storage, and only specific personnel are allowed to handle them. The base charge is to help cover the costs of the special security and labor time that must be used to obtain the original from among the thousands in the files, make six single-page copies, and return it to its proper file location.

City government tends to use general tax revenues to cover operational costs, but when a limited number of people use a particular service usually a separate fee is charged to help recover some of the cost. The policy is an attempt to prevent all taxpayers from paying for a service used by a relative few.

Thank you for taking the time to ask for an answer from the city rather than relying on someone else?s guess or accusation. It should also benefit those who would like to know but will not write or call.

? Mayor Davenport