Pursestrings Note: Increased Application Fees Now In Effect
Way back in September we alerted our readers that the Commission had “adjusted” its schedule of application fees to reflect increases in the consumer price index. (Reminder: The term “adjustment” here is a euphemism for “4.9% across-the-board increase”.) But, as so often happens, the new rates weren’t put into effect right away. Instead, the FCC had to notify Congress of the changes and then sit back and twiddle its regulatory thumbs for 90 days. That process has now run its course, and on January 29, 2009, the Commission published a notice in the Federal Register letting us all know that the new fee schedule took effect as of that notice. Presumably the Commission will eventually get around to issuing revised versions of its Fee Guides for the various services. Until then, all of the revised fees may be found in the schedules included in the 1/29/09 Federal Register notice.
I know that FCC fees go up with the cost of living, but since the cost of living is now actually going down, can we expect the fees to drop when the CPI goes down? Fair, after all, is fair.