mancityfan wrote:
RURAL, ECONOMIC AND ENVIRONMENTAL AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
Date: Tuesday 4th September 2012
Time: 6.30 p.m.
Venue: Council Chamber 2, Parkside, Station Approach, Burton Street, Melton Mowbray
Licensing – Hackney Carriage / Private Hire
3.13 The licensing of taxis and drivers is considered to be a service which, under the Charging Policy, should achieve cost recovery. Historically, the fees and charges have not reflected cost recovery and therefore this objective is not being met, with full cost recovery estimated to require an increase of over 400%.
3.14 However the scope of the service requires consideration and it needs to be considered whether licence fee payers should cover the cost of their enforcement. It is considered that the enforcement of licences is principally for the benefit of the wider public and as such a case exists that licence applicants should not support this activity, i.e. that the fee charged should equate solely to the costs associated with acquiring a licence.
3.15 On the basis that enforcement costs are excluded, the shortfall in fees to achieve cost recovery falls to an increase of 100%. It is however recognised that this is a scale of increase which would be unpalatable to the service users. Therefore, an increase of 25% is proposed as an approach that balances the requirements of the charging policy with a sum reasonable to service users. It is anticipated that similar increases will be required in future years to redress the shortfall.
I read this on the website as well. I thought that the sentence that I have highlighted was interesting.