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Proposal for cable fee dies after complaints by seniors By SUSAN JAY Phone calls from senior citizens and low-income families this past week proved highly effective in squashing any desire by the Medford City Council to increase monthly cable rates. At Thursday night's council meeting, Councilman Skip Knight read a proposed ordinance that would have added a 65-cents-per-month fee per subscriber on Falcon Cable. But his motion to vote on the issue died when no other council member seconded it. A second is required before a vote can be taken. The proposed ordinance would have applied to the 15,400 cable subscribers in the city and would have raised $120,120 a year. It would have cost each cable customer $7.80 more a year. The only citizen to speak against the issue at Thursday's public hearing was Frank Hopewell. He scolded the council for considering another tax on Medford residents, especially since voters made their viewpoint clear by rejecting several funding measures in the November election. He ended by saying, "The not-so-golden goose has been plucked to its limit." Not surprisingly, Hopewell was "delighted" by Thursday night's outcome. Councilman Jim Key said he didn't second the motion because he received too many phone calls from seniors who opposed the added fee. He said they raised considerations he had not thought of, especially the hardship such an increase would have on seniors who live on fixed incomes. "Sixty-five cents to me is an extra Coke, but to some of them it could mean an extra meal," Key said. Councilman Bill Moore said he heard from low-income families, seniors and single parents who said they couldn't afford the increase, and that cable was their only source of entertainment. The idea of charging a user fee came up at a Dec. 9 council study session. Knight said then that the city needed to gear up and stay current with the electronic age. Under federal law, Medford has been able to charge a user fee on the city's cable franchise since 1992, and can raise up to $150,000 through what are known as Public, Education and Government Cable Access Fees. But the city had never levied the fee. Money from the fee can be used only for facilities and equipment for public education and government access on cable. One of the uses the council had been considering was remodeling the council chambers. Preston Polasek, assistant to the city manager, said renovations paid for by the cable fee could include a new council dais, the raised platform table where council members sit, so that cable cameras and the audience could view the whole council at once. Renovations could make the council chambers adequate for public, cable-covered forums, which it is not now. The money could also be used to purchase cameras, audio equipment or an electronic voting system. The money could not be used for such things as laptop computers for council members, ongoing operations or wages for a control-room operator. The council had set the 65-cent amount to be in line with Jackson County, which had already decided to charge the user fee. Polasek said cable subscribers in unincorporated areas will begin to see the county's added user fee on their cable bill late this month. Ashland also charges a cable user fee of 60 cents a month. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1998, Medford, Oregon USA