(a) The director shall establish fees for permits issued pursuant to this chapter to be paid by the applicant prior to the issuance of the permit and thereafter on a schedule established by the department.(b) Fees for covered sources shall adequately cover the direct and indirect costs required to develop, support, and administer the permit program, including the reasonable costs of: (1) Reviewing and acting upon any application for or renewal of a permit;(2) Implementing and enforcing the terms and conditions of any permit, including legal support;(3) Monitoring emissions and ambient air quality, including resources to audit and inspect source-operated monitoring programs at least once a year;(4) Preparing generally applicable rules or guidance;(5) Performing or reviewing modeling, analyses, and demonstrations;(6) Preparing inventories and tracking emissions;(7) Providing support to the small business assistance program; and(8) Administering the fund.(c) Fees for covered sources shall be based on the number of tons of regulated air pollutant, excluding carbon monoxide, allowed or emitted by the permitted source and shall not be less than $25 per ton per year.(d) Unless changed by rules, fees for covered sources shall be changed in December of each year only by the percentage, if any, by which the consumer price index for that calendar year exceeds the consumer price index for the prior calendar year. The consumer price index for any calendar year is the average of the consumer price index for all urban consumers published by the United States Department of Labor, as of the close of the twelve-month period ending on August 31 of each calendar year.(e) Nothing in the cost-per-ton fee provisions of subsections (c) and (d) shall restrict the director from assessing more or less than the amount determined under subsections (c) and (d) from any one covered source or any class or category of covered sources, as designated by the director; provided the department collects a total amount of fees sufficient to cover the costs of the permit program.L 1992, c 240, pt of §1; am L 2009, c 42, §2 .