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FCC Proposes to Raise Regulatory Fees

But the increase could be even larger, if the commission implements a new assessment formula

FY 2013 Schedule of Regulatory Fees: Maintain Allocation

The FCC is asking for public input on its regulatory fees for the year as well as on how the agency assesses and collects the fees in general.

The actual fees will be collected in the fall, when the agency’s fiscal year begins.

The commission is asking for public comment on long-range proposals to reform the regulatory fee schedule for the future to take into account changes in the communications industry and in the commission’s regulatory processes and staff changes in recent years. The agency has a formula to figure out how many hours to allocate for each item its staff processes, and “charge” the industries it regulates by how much time is devoted to those tasks.

That’s what it’s asking for public input on because that formula is used to determine how much each industry pays in regulatory fees each year. For radio, that works out to fees determined by station class and population served, for example. The agency realizes the formula won’t be exact but the commission is still trying to update its calculations, prompted by a recent GAO report that said the commission could do better.

FY 2013 Schedule of Regulatory Fees: Fee Rate Increases Capped at 7.5%, Prior to Rounding

If the commission maintains its current formula, for fiscal year 2013, the regulatory fee for an AM construction permit would be $560 (a $10 increase from 2012) and an FM CP remains $700. With a revised formula, the regulatory fee for an AM CP goes up to $590 and an FM CP also rises to $750.

The fee for low-power FMs, FM translators and boosters would be $390, a $5 increase over 2012. It would be $415 for those categories with the revised formula.

For stations, keeping the current calculations, the lowest regulatory fee would be $750 for a Class A AM serving a population of 25,000 or less, a $25 boost. The highest fee would be $11,375 for an FM Class B, C, C0, C1 and C2 serving a population of 3 million and up. That’s a $125 increase over 2012.

If the formula is changed, the fee for a Class A AM serving a population of 25,000 or less increases to $775 and the fee for an FM Class B, C, C0, C1 and C2 serving a population of 3 million and up goes up to $12,375.

Comments to MD Dockets 12-201, 13-58 and 08-65 are due June 19 with replies on June 26.

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