Mayor Ron Littlefield today proposed a reduced water quality budget to the City Council that would cut rates for nonresidential users.
“It cannot be a permanent break,” Mr. Littlefield told council members.
The water quality, or stormwater, fee would stay the same for residential users at $115.20 a year. But the fee would drop for nonresidential users to $78 a year per equivalent residential unit this year. Nonresidential users’ fees would continue to go up over the next five years until they equal the amount residential users pay, city records show.
It would mean a $12 million water quality program budget the first year, growing to $16.7 million by the fifth year, records show.
An independent committee of the City Council looking at water quality fees proposed a $10 million budget last week.
The City Council could vote on either of these proposals in the coming weeks, officials said.
For complete details, see tomorrow’s Chattanooga Times Free Press.