Embedded Files
Many municipalities across Pennsylvania and within Allegheny County have elected to adopt fees levied on citizens and businesses for the management of stormwater by the municipality. Often, these measures are implemented as separate ordinances from Act 167, the text of which you can find below. There are also several case studies and reports, as well as a model ordinance, to assist a municipality that might be considering this step.
Many municipalities across Pennsylvania and within Allegheny County have elected to adopt fees levied on citizens and businesses for the management of stormwater by the municipality. Often, these measures are implemented as separate ordinances from Act 167, the text of which you can find below. There are also several case studies and reports, as well as a model ordinance, to assist a municipality that might be considering this step.
Example A: West Manheim Township, York County
Example A: West Manheim Township, York County
This section contains partial ordinance text outlining how West Manheim's fee is calculated and imposed, exemptions and credits, and what policies and procedures are authorized by this ordinance.
Section 2: Imposition of Fee
"A. For the use, benefits, and services rendered by the MS4, including its operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and improvement, and for all other expenses related to the MS4, a fee is hereby imposed upon each and every Property that is connected with, uses, or is served by or is benefited by the Township MS4, either directly or indirectly, and upon the owners of such properties.
B. The fee shall be imposed on an annual basis. Such a fee shall be payable to West Manheim Township and collected from the owners of such Properties hereinafter provided, and shall be determined as set forth below."
Section 3: Calculation of Fee
"A. An Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) shall be the unit of measurement to calculate the fee to be imposed by this Ordinance and any accompanying resolution setting the fee.
B. The fee shall be calculated based on One (1) ERU for all parcels recorded as being an Agricultural use as determined by the York County Assessment and Tax Claim Office, Department of Assessment, or its successor in that function.
C. The fee shall be calculated based on One (1) ERU for all parcels recorded as being a Single Family Residential use as determined by the York County Assessment and Tax Claim Office, Department of Assessment, or its successor in that function.
D. For all parcels determined by the York County Assessment and Tax Claim Office, Department of Assessment, or its successor, to have a use other than agriculture use or a Single Family residential use, the fee shall be calculated as follows:
i. One ERU shall be defined as 4500 square feet of impervious lot coverage. (This is the average impervious coverage of a single family residential parcel in the Township using 2015 aerial photography).
ii. The number of ERUs for each parcel shall be calculated by dividing impervious lot coverage by 4500 square feet using conventional rounding, to obtain the number of EDUs for the parcel.
iii. All parcels shall be set at a minimum of one (1) ERU, even if the calculation of impervious coverage would equal less than one ERU."
Section 8: Exemptions and Credits Applicable to Properties
"Credits against fees are appropriate to adjust fees, fines and penalties under some circumstances, to account for mitigation measures undertaken by property owners. No credits shall be granted based on age, race, tax status, economic status or religion of the property owner or user. The property owner shall have the burden of proving the benefits achieved through mitigation efforts on the subject property through specific engineering calculations showing reductions in stormwater runoff and relating those calculations to the equivalent number of ERUs. Mitigation measures shall not reduce the number of ERUs for any property to less than One (1) ERU."
Section 10: Policies and Procedures Authorized
"A. The Board of Supervisors may enforce collection of MS4 fees assessed and imposed by this Ordinance. Collection procedures may include referral of delinquent accounts to a collection agency, filing of liens, scire facias sur municipal lien proceedings to collect filed liens, a civil action or lawsuit, and any and all other measures or combination thereof that the Board of Supervisors may deem appropriate.
B. All costs of such collection procedures, including but not limited to: fees for filing, perpetuation and satisfaction of liens, collection fees, attorney's fees, court costs, litigation expenses, charges for service of documents, shall upon being incurred by the Township be imposed as a charge for nonpayment and added to the balance due.
C. No lien shall be satisfied, nor shall any collection proceeding be discontinued until all amounts due on an account, including fees, penalties, interest, collection fees, attorney's fees, court costs, and other fees are first paid in full to the Township.
D. The Manager of the Township is authorized to adopt any policies or procedures that the Manger deems necessary or convenient to interpret or implement this ordinance"
Example B: Dormont Borough, Allegheny County
Example B: Dormont Borough, Allegheny County
This section contains a comprehensive case study by Three Rivers Wet Weather on the stormwater fee implemented in Dormont, as well as their FAQ page and a presentation given on this initiative that includes their fee schedule.
Example C: West Chester Borough, Chester County
Example C: West Chester Borough, Chester County
West Chester Borough has implemented a stormwater fee, and the resources highlighted here provide a level of detail beyond an ordinance or case study. Included are revisions that were made to the original ordinance, a 2017 report on the progress and development of the initiative, a policy and procedure manual for residents, FAQs, an appeals manual, and an interactive map that shows impervious area in the borough.
Example D: Mt. Lebanon Township, Allegheny County
Example D: Mt. Lebanon Township, Allegheny County
This section includes relevant portions of the Mt. Lebanon fee ordinance, including a credit manual, as well as the credit application and a link to the resources page of the township website which has additional information and contacts.
Section 4: Imposition of Rental, Rates, and Charges
"For the use of, benefit by and the services rendered by the Sewerage System, including its operation, maintenance, repair, replacement and improvement of said system and all other expenses, rental, rate and charges are hereby imposed upon each and every Property that is connected with, uses, is serviced by or is benefited by Mt. Lebanon's Sewerage System, either directly or indirectly, and upon the owner(s) of such Properties. Such rental, rates and charges are imposed on a four month basis on the first of September, January, and May of each year. Such rental, rates and charges shall be payable to Mt. Lebanon by and collected from the owners of such Properties as hereinafter provided, and shall be determined as set forth below.
A. Each Property that contains a single-family residential dwelling, townhouse, or duplex shall be charged for one (1) ERU for each individual dwelling unit. The ERU charge shall be eight dollars ($8.00) per month.
B. The charge for each other Property within Mt. Lebanon shall be based upon the number of square feet of measured impervious surface, as determined through aerial photography and surface feature evaluation processes, expressed in whole ERUs by rounding to the next highest ERU. The charge for each other Property shall be computed by multiplying the number of ERUs for a given Property by the unit rate established by Mt. Lebanon as set forth above in subsection A above. In no event shall any Property pay a charge of less than one ERU.
C. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the following Property shall be exempt from rental, rates and changes under this Ordinance.
1. Public Street, as defined in the Mt. Lebanon Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance
2. Private Street, as defined in the Mt. Lebanon Subdivision and Land Development Ordinance"
Section 11: Exemptions and Credits Applicable to Rental, Rates, and Charges
"Credits against Rental, Rates, and Charges are an appropriate means of adjusting fees, rates, rental, charges, fines and penalties, under some circumstances, to account for applicable mitigation measures. Credit mechanisms are attached hereto as Appendix A. No exception, Credit, offset, or other reduction in rental, rates and charges shall be granted based on age, race, tax status, economic status or religion of the customer, or other condition unrelated to the demand for and cost of services provided by Mt. Lebanon."
Section 14: Storm Sewer Revenue Fund
"The funds received from the collection of the rental, rates, and other charges authorized by this Ordinance shall be deposited into a Storm Sewer Revenue Fund, a fund and account hereby created and dedicated to the operation, administration, maintenance, repair and improvement of the Sewerage System and paying Operation, Maintenance and Capital Costs"
Example E: City of Lancaster, Lancaster County
Example E: City of Lancaster, Lancaster County
Lancaster City also has a novel approach to their stormwater fee system. This includes a 'tier' system for levying the fee along with a process for crediting green stormwater infrastructure measures, (i.e. innovative tree canopy measure). The credit system is outlined in the table below as well as in the policy and procedure manual.
§ 261-4 Imposition of Stormwater Management Fee
"For the purposes set forth above, a stormwater management fee ("fee") as described, defined, and calculated herein is hereby imposed upon each property within the City. Notwithstanding the foregoing, the properties described in "Exhibit A" hereto which are properties that are owned by the City of Lancaster and which are not related to the City's use of enterprise funds are exempt from the provisions of this chapter. Should the City ever sell any such exempt properties, the properties would no longer be exempt, and the new property owner would be responsible for compliance with all terms of this chapter related to such properties."
§ 261-5 Tiers of Properties
"For purposes of determining the appropriate assessment rate for the stormwater management fee, all properties that are subject to the stormwater management fee are assigned to one of the following tiers ("tier" or "tiers"):
A. Tier 0: for properties where the total impervious surface area is less than or equal to 300 square feet.
B. Tier 1: for properties where the total impervious surface area is greater than 300 square feet and less than or equal to 1,000 square feet.
C. Tier 2: for properties where the total estimated impervious surface area is greater than 1,000 square feet and less than or equal to 2,000 square feet.
D. Tier 3: for properties where the total estimated impervious surface area is greater than 2,000 square feet and less than or equal to 3,000 square feet.
E. Tier 4: for properties where the total estimated impervious surface area is greater than 3,000 square feet."
§ 261-7 Establishment and Calculation of Fee
"A. The stormwater management fee shall be based on a percentage of the base rate, as follows:
1) Tier 0: The fee for each Tier 0 property is zero.
2) Tier 1: The fee for each Tier 1 property is 50% of the applicable base rate.
3) Tier 2: The fee for each Tier 2 property is 150% of the applicable base rate.
4) Tier 3: The fee for each Tier 3 property is 250% of the applicable base rate.
5) Tier 4: The fee for each Tier 4 property is calculated as the number of base units assigned to the property in accordance with the following procedure: The Director determines the number of base units for a Tier 4 property by dividing the property's actual impervious surface area by the base unit.
B. The Director computes the stormwater management fee by multiplying the number of base units assigned to the property by the base rate.
C. The base rate utilized by the Director shall be the base rate as established from time to time by resolution of City Council in accordance with the provisions of § 261-3A, definition of "base rate," of this chapter.
D. If the property is a condominium property, the Director may calculate the stormwater management fee to be billed in equal shares to the condominium unit owners by dividing the total number of base units by the number of individual condominium units and then multiplying that by the base rate to determine the amount billable to each condominium unit owner or in such other manners as may be promulgated by the Director in policies and procedures based on square footage, types of condominium units or other similar classification and calculations."
§ 261-9 Stormwater Credits
"A. The City may provide a system of credits against stormwater management fees for properties on which stormwater facility construction or maintenance substantially mitigates the peak discharge or runoff pollution flowing from such properties or substantially decreases the City's cost of maintaining the public stormwater system. The Director will develop written policies to implement the credit system.
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D. Credit Application Schedule
1. To receive a credit, the property owner must apply to the Director in a form prescribed by the Director not later than October 31 of the year before payment of the fee is due.
2. Once approved, the credit is valid for two years. To renew the credit, the property owner must reapply to the Director in a form prescribed by the Director not later than October 31 of the year before payment of the fee is due."
Example F: Warrington Township, Bucks County
Example F: Warrington Township, Bucks County
Warrington Township was the beneficiary of some funding through the University of Maryland to undergo significant study and planning around stormwater fee implementation. Resources that outline the work that was done and provide additional information on the project are below.
Additional Resources
Additional Resources
This section includes a model stormwater fee ordinance created by PennFuture, as well as an older link to funding green stormwater programs from the EPA and a newer study done by Western Kentucky University. In addition, ALCOSAN funds a grant program called Green Revitalization of our Waterways (GROW) to assist municipalities with funding green stormwater solutions. Here is an article on one GROW-funded project.
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