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Pay $585,000 fine, official tells council
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More from Local NewsVentura officials are recommending the city pay $585,000 to settle fines for contested discharge violations at its sewage plant.
"This will bring some closure," Don Davis, the city's utilities manager, said of the settlement, which the City Council is being asked to approve when it meets at 7 p.m. Monday at City Hall, 501 Poli St.
The city was cited two years ago by the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board for a series of violations as it repaired damage to above-ground storage tanks at the sewage facility near Ventura Harbor. The board fined the city $717,000 for failing to meet discharge standards in treated effluent released into the Santa Clara River during the repair work.
Ventura officials maintained the fine was excessive at a time when they were doing everything they could to fix a problem, and they appealed. A regional water board appeal panel agreed to reduce the fine by $132,000 in July 2006. A city appeal to the State Water Resources Control Board was denied this April.
In August, the regional water board's executive officer agreed to let the city put $300,000 of the reduced, $585,000 fine toward a local environmental project on the board's approved list, Davis said. The city chose a project to prevent contaminated storm runoff from reaching the ocean at Surfers Point. The remainder of the penalty would be paid to a statewide cleanup account to support clean water programs in regulated watersheds.
The Surfers Point project will divert contaminated urban runoff away from a storm-drain system flowing into the ocean and send it instead to the sewage plant for treatment.
The money for the fines would come from the city's capital improvement budget. Public Works Director Ron Calkins said the payment would not affect current projects.
The city could contest the penalty by sending only partial payment based on what it believes is a correct penalty, a figure closer to $100,000, officials said. But the regional water board has stated it would refer the matter to the state attorney general if the city fails to comply.
Posted by chair on November 17, 2007 at 8:17 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Am I the only one who sees the idiocy in fining governments? The entity doesn't actually pay up -- the taxpayers do! Better to fine the bureaucrats or politicians who made the wrong decision.
Posted by luv2sail on November 17, 2007 at 4:09 p.m. (Suggest removal)
Chair, what a concept. Actually holding these officials accountable. Problem is that the same officials would have to vote it in. I realize they are not the brightest bulbs in the drawer, but likely bright enough not to do this.
Posted by spokenit on November 18, 2007 at 7:27 a.m. (Suggest removal)
Exactly what I was thinking.. Of course they will pay. They mean the tax payers.
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