Linn County considers chemical storage fees

Grain elevators and other businesses in rural and small-town Linn County may soon have to pay a fee for the hazardous chemicals they keep on hand.

Looking for a way to fund the Linn County HAZMAT team, Emergency Management Agency Coordinator Mike Goldberg asked the supervisors this week to consider charging businesses outside Cedar Rapids for the right to store dangerous chemicals like anhydrous ammonia, chlorine and sulfuric acid.

The county HAZMAT team's budget is in trouble. Funding depends on payments for when the team is called, Goldberg said. Not counting the flood, the team has only been called about 70 times in the past five years. Last year was particularly slow.

“We're asking for $36,000,” Goldberg told the supervisors.

Cedar Rapids funds its HAZMAT team by charging fees to industries that store hazardous material, something the county has never done. Adopting something similar to the Cedar Rapids system would net the county an extra $102,000 per year, more than enough to cover the HAZMAT shortfall.

Cedar Rapids pulls in about $250,000 per year in chemical storage fees, which it has been charging for two years. The fees are based on the volume of the chemical, how dangerous and how difficult to handle it is, said Mark English, assistant chief of operations for the Cedar Rapids Fire Department.

In a tight budget year, the supervisors are open to the idea of a new fee, but said the Cedar Rapids fees seemed exorbitant.

“Some of them seemed rather high for small town, small businesses,” Supervisor Ben Rogers said. For instance, Innovative Ag Service in Central City would have to pay $3,200 per year. F.J. Krob & Co., a grain elevator in Walker, would have to pay $1,600 per year.

“You've got to fund these programs from somewhere, but where is the majority of their time spent?” said Allen Krob, whose family owns several grain elevators in Eastern Iowa. “I think the HAZMAT team serves a good purpose, but let's keep everything in perspective.”

The Emergency Management Agency budget must be published by Jan. 19.