The City Council this week protested a $52,500 state fee being imposed on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permits.
The council agreed to place the funds in an escrow account until a decision has been made by the state attorney general’s office on whether the new fee is legal.
“I can’t support paying this. We should not make the payment at all at this time. We should wait and see the result of the court case,” Councilman Douglas Krause said.
Last month, the council delayed a decision on paying the fee pending an opinion by the attorney general on whether the fee was constitutional. The new fee took effect July 1, and since then many taxing districts have protested it.
The council requested a legal opinion from the attorney general, but this is pending because of a lawsuit filed in Downstate Sangamon County, which also opposes the fee.
City Manager Peter Burchard said in a memo that the city raised questions because the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency did not identify any new programs the fee would support.