The start of a new year isn't just a time of reflection and resolutions. It's also a time for rate increases — from cable TV to insurance to property taxes.

        Even the cost of a dog license and, indirectly, flushing your toilet increased in Hamilton County.

        Here's a quick look at some of what you'll be paying more for in 2002.

Cable TV

        Time Warner raised the price of its basic and standard tier service — used by 95 percent of its 330,000 subscribers in Southwest Ohio — by 5 percent Tuesday.

        Because Time Warner has different franchise agreements with 177 communities in Southwest Ohio, individual rates vary.

        In the Cincinnati, for example, rates increased $1.75 to $36.74 a month from $34.99, spokeswoman Amelia Beck said. In Middletown, the rate boost is $1.68, to $35.29 month from $33.61.

        The increase “reflects the increased cost of programming,” equipment upgrades and the other costs of doing business, she said.

        Time Warner also added three channels. VH1 Classic and E.W. Scripps Co.'s DIY (Do It Yourself) Network are being added to the company's digital cable package, and the National Geographic Channel will be available on its standard tier of service.

        For some Time Warner customers, it is the second rate increase in the past year. In July, about 30 percent of its customers saw an increase of about $2 a month.

        A spokeswoman for Insight Communications, which provides cable TV service to more than 81,000 customers in Northern Kentucky, said the company also plans a rate increase, but won't release details until next week.

School taxes

        Taxes are up in four Tristate districts that passed levies or bond issues last fall. Here's how they rose annually, based on a house with a market value of $100,000: Monroe Local Schools in Butler and Warren counties, up $263.68; Carlisle in Warren County, up $15; Felicity-Franklin in Clermont County, up $61.62; and Finneytown in Hamilton County, up $232.

Long distance

        Service providers including AT&T, the nation's largest, and Cincinnati Bell's Any Distance, the largest in the Tristate, are raising fees they charge customers to recover the cost of providing service to rural and low-income areas.

        Called the federal Universal Service Fund (USF), the surcharges subsidize service to rural, low-income areas and some facilities such as schools and libraries.

        Any Distance, which provides long distance to about two-thirds of residential customers in the Tristate, is raising its USF assessment on long distance bills from 8.6 percent to 9.9 percent.

        AT&T raised its USF recovery rate effective Tuesday from 9.9 percent to 11.5 percent, a 16 percent increase.

        Cincinnati Bell, which says its USF recovery rate is the lowest in the industry, said the long-distance fee increase will take effect Jan. 20.

        AT&T said declining long-distance revenue led it to collect more from customers to meet government requirements.

Insurance

        Jan. 1 is the date many employers allow employees to shift to a new health insurance plan — and when rates and co-payments increase.

        People who have property or auto insurance also are seeing higher bills arrive in their mail.

        According to the Insurance Information Institute, a national trade group, a typical homeowners policy in Ohio should cost about $30 more a year, while auto insurance should rise about $50.

        Insurers have seen their profits slump in recent years and are boosting premiums.

Hamilton County fees

        Voters agreed to two tax levies. Meanwhile, the county commissioners used a variety of fee and tax increases to offset the effects of the recession — in this case, funding cuts from the state government and lower than expected sales tax revenues.

        Dog license fees were increased at a 44-percent clip — from $9 to $13 a dog. Auditor Dusty Rhodes urged commissioners to reconsider the dog license increase.

        “It is unfair to place the entire burden of supporting a program which benefits everyone on law-abiding dog owners alone,” he said.

        The Metropolitan Sewer District raised its rates by 6 percent. Along with that increase was a 30 percent rise for building inspections and a 44 percent increase for zoning fees.

        Voters last fall approved two special levies — one to pay for services for abused and neglected children and the other to pay for health care for the poor.

        The children services levy was actually not increased, but will cost taxpayers more because they received rollbacks during the past two years. That won't happen during this five-year levy cycle, as county officials are projecting that the levy won't pay all the bills starting in 2003.

        The health and hospitalization levy, the majority of which pays for indigent health care, was increased by 25 percent to cover the cost of inflation.

        Enquirer contributor Sue Kiesewetter contributed to this report.
       

A tale of two pilots
Cold snap brings more house fires
Unhappy new year: Time to pay more
Boyfriend faces murder charge
Activist objects to G.I. Joe
DNA tests approved in slaying case
Nominee pool wider, deeper
Norwood jobs merged by new council
Stadium surface going bald
Tomain domain: minting lawyers
Tristate A.M. Report
U.S. Navy waits for no man - or baby
Volunteers in multiple roles at city school
HOWARD: Some Good News
PULFER: Public money
Complaint says arrest invasive
Middletown council names Schiavone mayor
Middletown hospital removes major obstacle to Turtlecreek Twp. move
Transit authority at crossroads
City also loses top official
Competence for trial hearing waits
Dayton's police chief quits post
Ft. Campbell gets orders
High schools honor alumni in military
Hospital praised as employer