HOBART | The 3 percent hike in fees the City Council is proposing isn't meant to break anyone's piggy bank, said City Councilman David Vinzant, D-4th.

The increases range from a low of 3 cents --- $1 to $1.03 for cat spaying -- to a high of $75 -- $2,500 to $2,575 for contractor licensing, according to the list of fees provided by the clerk-treasurer's office.

"It will be a lot of nickel and diming," Vinzant said.

The council on Wednesday will be looking to possibly approve an across-the-board 3 percent increase for a three-page list of city fees that starts with accident reports and ends with wireless communications application fees.

"We'll hopefully vote on it if no one has any problems with the 3 percent increase," he said.

He said the fee hikes would make up for such things as the annual cost-of-living increase and rising expenses such as fuel.

Vinzant, who heads the City Council Ordinance Committee, brought up the proposed fee hike two weeks ago.

He received mostly favorable feedback from fellow council members at that time.

"Our fees have not been changed in a long time," he said.

In some communities, city officials have placed an automatic fee increase that goes into effect each year.

That's already the case in Hobart when it comes to ambulance service fees, since an annual percentage has already been factored in, Vinzant said.

"That's why ambulance service fees are excluded from this list," he said.

Increasing fees by a small amount was a suggestion the city received from officials at the Indiana Association of Cities and Towns, he said.

That's in light of the projected loss in revenue from changes in the amount of property taxes the city will be receiving.

"There's no place we can find a lot of money," he said.