OJAI : Council to Hear Flap Over Cable Rates

In an effort to resolve a dispute over monthly cable rates, Ojai officials and Ventura County Cablevision will hold a public meeting July 12 to discuss the issue before the City Council.

Cable representatives and city officials will present arguments to council members on whether the rates should have been lowered to comply with Federal Communications Commission regulations implemented last September.

Cablevision officials argue that their current monthly rate of $10.62 for basic cable service complies with the new federal regulations. But Ojai officials say the $10.62 rate should have been lowered to $9.92 starting Sept. 1.

Ojai City Manager Andrew Belknap said the regulations change frequently, leading to differing interpretations of how the regulations affect billing. Ojai, he said, hired an outside consultant to advise the city on rate structure.

The consultant, Laurie DeVarney, principal of Laurel Communications Group, said the group’s analysis of Cablevision’s form for calculating monthly rates found some “inconsistencies and inaccuracies” in the numbers Cablevision used as well as their calculations.

But Cablevision President David LaRue said his company has recalculated the rates in light of the consultant group’s findings and still finds that the rates complied with FCC regulations.

At next Tuesday’s meeting, which will begin at 5 p.m., officials will also discuss the consultant’s suggestion to raise the franchise fee, which covers the city’s administrative costs, from 3% to 5%, amounting to a monthly increase of no more than 40 cents. Belknap said the consultant suggested the increase because Ojai was not able to cover the costs it incurs from implementing the new regulations.