Emissions fee plan targets businesses

Montgomery County proposal hits factories, heavy emitters hardest.

Large factories and heavy pollution emitters in Montgomery County will bear the brunt of a new emissions fee proposed by the local clean air regulating agency.

The proposal by Regional Air Pollution Control Agency, which

operates under Public Health - Dayton & Montgomery County, said at a public meeting Monday that the new fee would mean new air pollution control fees paid by 619 companies.

RAPCA has early projections of taking in about $200,000 to $250,000 a year from the new fees, which are proposed at $125 per emission unit.

The Board of Health will make the final call on the new fees likely early next year. The fees would then likely be assessed in 2018 and implemented in 2019.

About 90 percent of businesses affected will pay $750 or less, but large emitters could pay much more, like Dayton Power & Light, which would pay up to a total of $27,250 in new annual charges under the proposal.

“Our fee schedule is really weighted towards those that have

the higher emissions levels,” said

Jennifer Marsee, who oversees the Regional Air Pollution Control Agency, who addressed about a dozen attendees at a meeting at the Business Solutions Center in Dayton.

DP&L officials attended the meeting Monday.

RAPCA officials expect a third reading on the new fees by early next year.

The Dayton Region Manufacturers Association and Dayton Area Chamber of Commerce previously spoke out against the fees, with DRMA citing that small fees can harm small businesses.

Jim Bowman, chairman of the Dayton Region Manufacturers Association, told this news outlet previously that having higher fees in Montgomery County would make it more difficult for industry to compete with outside communities with lower fees. For example, if his company was in the South West Ohio Air Pollution Control Agency (SWOAPCA) region like in Hamilton, Butler, Clermont and Warren counties, Bowman’s company Rack Processing Co. would only pay $425 to that agency, compared to the $2,750 that RAPCA is proposing for the Dayton region.

Marsee said RAPCA would focus on the largest emitters and have a hardship exemption for facilities that have fallen on hard times, based on tax information. She also encouraged businesses that want to review the estimated fees they would pay to talk to RAPCA.

RAPCA, which covers Greene, Clark, Miami, Montgomery, Darke and Preble counties, is proposing the fee for Montgomery County businesses but in the early stages of looking at rolling out the uniform new emissions fees in the other counties like what is proposed in Montgomery County.

Marsee said RAPCA has had the benefit of not having to charge these type of fees until now to pay help its share of its operations costs, which are also partially covered by the U.S. EPA and Ohio EPA. She RAPCA has been struggling to maintain its funding since around 2008 and has lost about 30 percent of its resources since.

RAPCA has traditionally received some operation funding from the local public health levy, which is up for renewal this year. While nothing has been decided about levy funds, which still need to be passed by voters, RAPCA was asked by a review team that sets county priorities to take a look at its fee system.

“We were asked to explore revenue options and explore fee programs,” said Marsee.