To hear city engineer Phil Biggs tell it, Ironton dodged a gigantic financial bullet.

The city came within a hairsbreadth of receiving fines from the federal Environmental Protection Agency that, more than likely, would have been between $100,000 and $200,000, Biggs said.

The city has been in violation of several environmental ordinances for years, most notably issues with its stormwater runoff, which resulted in a deadline being placed on the city for it to come into compliance.

When the city was unable to meet that first deadline, it was given an 18-month extension, which ended on Dec. 1, but the city was still without what is known as a combined sewer overflow long-term control plan.

“Eventually, after we failed to do those things, it was just a matter of time before the feds came knocking at our door,” Biggs said.

In fact, the city was referred to the Department of Justice, and it was only a few last-minute meetings with the Ohio EPA and the federal EPA that kept Ironton out of hot water.

“After we failed to meet the original deadline, and failed to meet our 18 month extension, my anticipation is that we were looking at a fine between $100,000 and $200,000,” Biggs said.

Biggs met last week with Ohio EPA and national EPA officials to try to work out a solution to the problem that would avoid the fines. In the end, Ironton entered into an “Orders and Findings” which basically means that the city will have another 18 months to solidify their CSO plan and come into compliance with the nine minimum control standards.

Although it hasn’t exactly been welcomed by locals with open arms, Biggs said that the $14.55 CSO fee that was implemented earlier this year went a long way towards convincing the EPA that the city was on the right track.

“In my mind, if the national EPA hadn’t been receiving communications from the Ohio EPA about the things we were doing, I believe we would have already received notice,” Biggs said. “The only thing that kept us from receiving a wonderful letter from the Department of Justice are the things we’ve done.”

Biggs said that the city has hired E.L. Robinson to develop a CSO plan for them, and that the city should be compliant by the end of the 18 month extension.

Along the same line of bringing Ironton up to speed, Biggs said that he expected that the stormwater utility fee would soon be growing for non-residences.

As stated in the original ordinance, non-residences owe $14.55 for every 3,000 feet of impermeable surface that makes up their property.

Those fees have almost been completed assessed, and should be on the bill for January water service which should appear by the end of that month.