A proposal made today to an independent committee of the City Council looking at water quality fees sets the program’s overall budget at $14 million, and lowers rates for all customers.
Mike Price, a committee member, recommended a stepped program after almost an hour of back and forth debate on how the city should finance the program.
Mr. Price’s plan would keep residential users at $115.20 annually for one year and then go down to $90 a year the next year.
Fees for industries and commercial users are based on the size of the facility when compared to residential houses. For example, a factory may be judged to be the same size as 10 houses, or “household units,” according to the plan.
Under Mr. Price’s plan, such facilities would pay $72 a year per each household unit of their facilities and non-profit organizations would pay $48 annually per each household unit of their facilities, he said.
The result would be about a $14 million budget, going down to around $12.5 million after credits and exemptions are taken out, he said.
City administrators said they could approve such a budget. It will come back up again next week after tweaking, officials said today.
For more information, read tomorrow’s edition of the Chattanooga Times Free Press.