FREDERICK, Md. (AP) - Maryland Department of the Environment Secretary Robert Summers is taking Frederick County to task for setting a token fee of 1 cent per residential or business property to help fight storm-water pollution.
The Frederick News-Post reported Monday that Summers told the county in a letter the fee isn't enough to cover cleanup efforts required by a state-enforced permit.
The fee would raise $487 annually. A draft of the county's next storm-water permit lists expenditures averaging $22 million annually over for the next five years.
A 2012 state law requires Baltimore and the state's nine largest counties to set fees to fund steps toward reducing pollution caused by rainwater runoff.
Summers says the county could be fined more than $32,000 a day if it violates its storm-water permit.