Survey charge having payment at start for time (4)
I believe the answer is:
poll
'survey' is the definition.
(I know that poll has the is a more specific form of the action survey)
I can't explain the remainder of the clue.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for poll that I've seen before include "Record of opinions" , "head-count" , "Votes cast at an election" , "Clip" , "Survey - remove horns" .)