MEXICO — The price of taxicab license renewals, as well as hawker and peddler licenses, will increase from $25 to $100 on Jan. 1, selectmen decided Monday evening.
According to Selectman Reggie Arsenault, the Planning Board, which Arsenault is a member of, decided at its most recent meeting that the fees should be raised because they “hadn’t been readjusted in a few years.”
As a result, the Planning Board made a recommendation to the Board of Selectmen to raise the license fees.
Selectmen unanimously voted to do so.
“As far as the hawker and peddler licenses, the Planning Board thought it was more than fair to raise the price,” Arsenault said. “We have businesses in town who have to dish out a lot of money for state taxes and taxes to the town, and then there’s people who come into town, pay $25 and they can sell their goods for the season at much lower prices than local businesses. Raising the price keeps things fair.”
Chairman Richie Philbrick recommended to selectmen that the price increase for taxicab license renewals begin Jan. 1, 2013, not Monday night, because the two taxicab companies in the area, Road Hog Express and Mountain Valley Taxi, have already paid the $25 for 2013.
“It’s more courteous of us to do it that way instead of making them pay an additional $75 on top of the $25 they’ve already paid,” Philbrick said.
In addition to the license renewals, selectmen voted to increase the price of town map copies from $1 to $3 and the price for photocopies from 30 cents to $1.
“We thought the increase for photocopies would help cover the cost of maintenance on the printers, and the cost of paper,” Arsenault said.
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