Staff Photo by Lesley Onstott
Mayor Ron Littlefield, left, listens as TDEC officials answer City Council members' questions during a public hearing at the City Council building Thursday. The room was filled with concerned citizens who sat through over an hour of presentations before the floor was opened for their questions.

Chattanooga could be fined as early as next spring for not living up to the standards of its water quality permit, a Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation official said Thursday.

The city “will be subject to a joint-enforcement action,” said Patrick Parker, manager of enforcement and compliance for TDEC’s Water Pollution Control. “That will be coming down the pike.”

Officials would not say how much the fine would be, saying that is subject to negotiations involving the city, TDEC and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency. But the fine by the EPA would be coming, they said.

The comments were made at a public hearing Thursday afternoon in the City Council chambers. The Chattanooga City Council called the meeting to see if there was anything that could be done to reduce or offset the water quality fee set more than a month ago.

That fee went from $36 a month to $115.20 a month for residential users. Industries and businesses pay much more because their complexes can be counted as multiple residences, city records show.

Mayor Ron Littlefield said after the meeting that any fine levied on the city would be paid through the new water quality fees. He said the city’s steps taken on raising the fees and beefing up its water quality program were an effort to try and offset some of those costs. He said at the meeting that he would ask that any fees paid be used for the benefit of the community.

“We want the ultimate fine to be as low as possible,” Mr. Littlefield said.

State environment and conservation officials said the fine would come through federal court in the spring as a civil action. Mr. Parker said the EPA delayed civil action during the summer to allow the city to try and comply with a state consent order prepared during that time.

More than 150 residents, business and industry owners packed the main chamber of the City Council Building on Thursday. City officials gave a two-hour slide presentation on how the money would be spent and why it needed to be spent.

For two more hours, residents came to the microphone and peppered council members and city officials with questions about the fees.

Barbara Chandler, manager of Forest Hills Cemetery in St. Elmo, said the cemetery’s water quality fees went from $4,000 to $14,000. Bill Raines, owner of Four Squares Business Park on Mountain Creek Road, told the council his bill there increased from $4,000 a year to $10,000 a year.

City officials told Mr. Raines that he could take two steps to try and alleviate the situation. He either could apply for credits or appeal the bill by Dec. 31, he said.

City officials said people can qualify for a one-time 75 percent credit for retrofitting for anything that could help stormwater runoff.

“If I’m going to spend $50,000 on a detention pond, I don’t know why that 75 percent shouldn’t be every year,” Mr. Raines said.

Councilman Jack Benson said after the meeting he thought a lot of information came up concerning credits and how businesses could offset their costs. But because the federal government is involved, he could not see any way the city could back down from its new fees, he said.

“I don’t see any way of reducing it,” he said.