Stormwater fees in Chattanooga will likely remain the highest in the Southeast, but a City Council panel today directed city officials to work with a business panel to help provide some relief to businesses and churches.
Members of the council’s Legal and Legislative Committee said they want the council to set the fees for 2009 water quality payments by next week.
Council member Pam Ladd said taxpayers need to know the stormwater fee schedule to plan their payments and any mitigating measures they might take to lower their fees. The city raised stormwater fees last October, but the council appointed a panel to consider changes to minimize the impact of the higher charges on businesses and non-profit property owners.
“This is getting out of control,” she said, referring to the prolonged debate over the stormwater charges for businesses and non-profits.
Jack Benson, the council chairman, urged Bill Raines, the chairman of the blue ribbon committee, and members of the public works staff, “to get in a rubber-padded room” and work out their differences in fee schedules.
“I think we are very close,” he said.
Mr. Raines said the blue ribbon panel is willing to support higher stormwater fees but wants the city to defer some work and cut expenses to help cut the increase. Residential stormwater fees jumped from $36 to $115 a year, and many businesses are facing fee increases of more than $10,000.
The U.S. Department of Justice is considering fines against the city for failing to meet federal clean water standards for stormwater runoff.
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