Another tax increase is on the way for Carbondale residents. 

The Carbondale City Council voted unanimously to approve an increase of just over two percent per year to the refuse and recycling fee.

The increase raises the current fee from $14.30 to $14.60 beginning May 1 and adds $0.30 each year through 2017.

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City Manager Kevin Baity said the increase would be used to purchase a recycling truck in 2016, a refuse truck in 2017 and to remodel an existing refuse truck in 2018.

The council recently voted to raise the sales tax by 0.25 percent and the hotel/motel tax by 1 percent at the March 25 meeting.

While the vote on the refuse fee was unanimous, Acting Mayor Don Monty had reservations about the sustainability of the current model.

“If you look at all of the manpower involved in our current situation and all the fuel and cost to vehicles that we have, it certainly needs to be – before we get to this point in a couple of years – we’ve got to take some serious time to examine and totally rework this system,” he said.

The council also unanimously voted to consider an ordinance during the next meeting requiring tow trucks to use safety harness straps and attachable rear lights.

The move to have the ordinance considered was spearheaded by resident Barry Spehn, who said he was concerned with safety.

“I never wanted to come to this council and say, ‘I told you so,’” he said. “We did have an accident one time where a vehicle ran into the back of a vehicle that was being towed with no lights. Fortunately, nobody got hurt, so we were lucky in that sense.”

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Spehn said a large number of other cities, including the city where his son works as a tow truck driver, have similar ordinances.

Despite being notified of the motion on the agenda, no representatives from the tow companies were present at the meeting. Baity said the companies were notified via mail at least 10 days before the meeting.

The council also took the first steps to creating a downtown master development plan. It voted to form an advisory committee to begin the search for a consulting firm to decide how to develop the area on University and Illinois Avenues from Highway 13 south to the Mill intersection.

Baity said the tentative plan is to reroute all Rt. 51 traffic to University Avenue and turn Illinois Avenue into a “true downtown street.” He said this would allow the town to accommodate events and parades while not stifling traffic at a major intersection. However a final plan will not be complete until at least February 2015.

Anyone interested in serving on the committee should contact City Hall. The committee will be selected by the May 3 meeting.

The next City Council meeting is at 7:00 p.m. April 22 in the City Council Chambers at City Hall.

Seth Richardson can be reached at [email protected], on Twitter at @EgyptianRich or at 536-3311 ext. 268.