Explanation
This legislation authorizes the Director of Public Utilities to pay the State of Ohio, Ohio Environmental Protection Agency (OEPA), annual discharge fees for the Jackson Pike and Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plants, and the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) annual discharge fee for fiscal year 2024.
House Bill 152 of the 120th Ohio General Assembly became law in July 1993. This law created a series of fees to provide financial support for the OEPA, including an annual wastewater treatment plant discharge fee and an annual municipal stormwater discharge fee assessed to holders of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permits.
The Division of Sewerage and Drainage (DOSD) holds two such wastewater treatment plant discharge permits: Jackson Pike permit number 4PF00000 and Southerly permit number 4PF00001. The Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant discharge fee is $41,400.00, while the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant discharge fee is $41,400.00. Each payment is due by January 30, 2025. A ten percent (10%) penalty is assessed if payment is not received on or before that date.
The fees for 2024 are based upon the average daily discharge flow in million gallons per day (MGD) for each facility using flow data between May 1 and October 31. During this period, the Jackson Pike Wastewater Treatment Plant averaged 64.2978 MGD and the Southerly Wastewater Treatment Plant averaged 94.4801 MGD.
The Division of Stormwater also holds a discharge permit: municipal storm water discharge permit number 4PI00000*DD. Fees for this permit are calculated as ten dollars per one-tenth of square mile of area permitted (not to exceed $10,000) for the previous year. The total area of the Columbus MS4, 225.79 square miles of area permitted, is well above the threshold for this cap, so the Stormwater section’s discharge fee is $10,000.00. This payment is also due on January 30, 2025 and is subject to the same ten percent (10%) penalty ...
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