§ 49-21-26 — Fees

Unless the governing body of a political subdivision has submitted to the qualified electors
of that political subdivision the question of whether to impose a fee other than a fee for
management costs and a majority of the voters approved the fee, a political subdivision may not
impose after December 31, 1998, any fee to recover from a telecommunications company for
the use of its right of way, other than a fee for its management costs. If requested by a political
subdivision, in order to accomplish a necessary public improvement on the right of way, a
telecommunications company promptly shall remove its facilities from the public right of way or
shall relocate or adjust its facilities within the public right of way at no cost to the political
subdivision. Necessary public improvements are limited to construction and maintenance
activities directly related to improved transportation and safety. A political subdivision may
recover from a telecommunications company only those management costs caused by the
telecommunications company activity in the public right of way. A fee or other obligation under
this section must be imposed on a competitively neutral basis. When a political subdivision's
management costs cannot be attributed to only one entity, those costs must be allocated among
all users of the public rights of way, including the political subdivision itself. The allocation must
reflect proportionately the costs incurred by the political subdivision as a result of the various
types of uses of the public right of way. This section does not prohibit the collection of a
franchise fee as permitted in section 49-21-29.