On Monday, the Newton City Council agreed to consider the possibility of enacting electric and gas franchise fees to help pay for city-wide projects.

In 2009, the Iowa General Assembly allowed cities to apply a electric and gas franchise fee up to 5 percent. The city does not have to charge the full 5 percent.

“The basis of it is two-fold,” Newton City Administrator Robert Knabel said. “The comprehensive plan that was done through a lot of citizen group meetings with the planning committee boards, and members had a lot of recommendations. One of them was for the city to address the maintenance issues on (public) streets. Secondly, the goal was to develop a sustainable source of funding for capital needs and operational needs.”