Looking for a solution for one the city's most daunting problems, Ironton City Council's Finance Committee agreed to recommend legislation authorizing a $4,700 contract with EMH&T Inc. of Gahanna to develop the structure of a storm water utility rate that City Engineer Phil Biggs believes is absolutely needed to develop a CSO plan.

The purpose of the CSO plan is to determine the volume of pollutants that go into the Ohio River and how to minimize untreated discharges. Developing the plan that has to be in place by December 2005 is projected to cost more than $860,000 based on a current proposal by E.L. Robinson Engineering. Actually implementing it could cost the city $20 million over the next 20 years or more.

Biggs said the firm would develop five categories of fees that would be based on the amount of property and surface area someone owns that creates runoff. Past projections ranged from between $7.50 and $15 per month but it could be more or less depending on the specifics, he said.

Later phases could refine the costs for business and industry, he said.

"Everything we are doing now is based on ifs and maybes," Biggs said. "We need the hard study out of this and a study out of the CSO plan and for God's sake we the need the money."

Doug Cade, manager of E.L. Robinson's Ironton office, explained some of the city's financing options for the initial $860,000 that includes a few grant opportunities but will likely have to be a bank loan from a local institution.

Cade made it clear that the EPA-mandated plan is not an optional issue, regardless of the city's financial straits.

"If you take no action, Steve Wells (with the Ohio EPA) will bring in the U.S. EPA. Then you are gong to spend a lot of money on lawyers," Cade said. "ŠEventually they will issue a consent order to make it happen."

The EPA could fine the city up to $25,000 per day for non-compliance, although this is a worst-case scenario. What if the city can't afford the fines? Too bad.

"The money will have to come out of the general revenue," Cade said. "They will take it first before you pay your personnel."