It will soon cost a little more to own a cat or a dog in Keokuk as the city council has agreed to increase the cost of the annual license.
Owners currently pay $5/animal each year.
The cost of the license will increase to $10 on July 1 if the animal is spayed or neutered. A three-year license would also be available for $25.
Mayor Tom Marion says the license would increase to $25 for one year and $65 for three years if the animal is unaltered.
“They have not been raised in quite some time,” says Marion. “We are not out to make money on that, but (rather) we are out to break even.”
The city council has said the increases could encourage spaying and neutering of pets, which could help reduce the number of stray dogs and cats in Keokuk.
The panel has also established a $5 late fee. It did not establish exemptions to the higher fees.
STREET CONSTRUCTION
Keokuk is moving ahead with the replacement of some gravel roads on its west side.
The city council has accepted the nearly $2-million bid from Hickey Contracting to build about twelve blocks worth of concrete streets around Wells Carey Elementary.
The streets were torn out and replaced with gravel roughly two years ago as part of a sewer separation project.
Marion says Keokuk would have liked to have done the work sooner, but the concrete could not be added until the sewer lines had time to settle.
He says the residents in that neighborhood deserve to not have to deal with the dust created by the gravel roads.
Marion says the city will pay for the project using revenue from a tax increment financing district and from sewer usage fees. Construction is expected to get underway within the next month.
MANHOLE CONSTRUCTION
Keokuk has hired John W.Sammons Construction to install more than two-dozen manholes throughout the city. The Keokuk-based firm submitted the low bid of nearly $580,000.
The manholes will allow for improved televising of the sewer system and increased access.
