The battle between the Marion County School District and the City of Ocala is heating up. They will meet each other in court on Thursday.
The city is suing the district over hundreds of thousands of dollars in storm water fees. The school district says they shouldn't have to pay, citing the fact that Alachua and Pinellas counties don't have to.
Meanwhile,  the city is asking a judge to stop the district from using the city's storm water system until they pay for storm water utilities. The district stopped paying those fees in November, 2011.
District Spokesperson, Kevin Christian says that trying to stop all schools in the city from using the storm water system is just unfeasible.
"I don't know how you can restrict any school district or any entity from using a drain that is in the area, much as you can't help any retention area that can overflow into or onto someone else's property," Christian said.
But city officials say that it's simple. The school district uses the storm water facilities and should pay for their use just like any other city utilities customer.
City Council President Daniel Owen approached school board members to try to avoid this from going to court, but Christian said they just want a judge to decide whether or not they will have to pay those storm water fees.