HARRISBURG — A Pennsylvania House committee is advancing a bill that would require the state to collect municipal storm water fees, a move the state has so far refused to make, costing local governments millions of dollars.
City officials say that because spill and pollution mitigation are a shared responsibility, all landowners should be taxed, even those who are exempt from the tax, and a bill passed by the Local Government Committee on Wednesday would mandate just that.
Rep. Justin Fleming, D-Dauphin, a co-sponsor of the proposal, told lawmakers before the vote that federal and state regulations are necessary to improve and protect water quality, but local governments are limited in how they can spend money on infrastructure projects.
Local governments face fines for not complying with stormwater guidelines, so taxpayers will foot the bill if the federal government doesn't pay, he said.
Most municipalities that impose stormwater fees base the fee a property owner pays on the amount of impervious surfaces, such as buildings and pavement. These surfaces don't allow water to be absorbed into the ground, which increases runoff and puts a strain on the pipes, drains and gutters that make up stormwater systems.
“The typical homeowner pays about $120 a year, or $10 a month,” Andy Yentcha, a water systems expert at Penn State University, previously told Spotlight PA.
Farmers and large landowners who already have mitigation measures in place oppose the fee, saying they're left with high bills. Jentcha recommends helping local governments draft stormwater ordinances and working with landowners to lower fees, as well as promoting things like credit programs that reward efforts to control rainfall and snowmelt.
When credit programs give excessive deductions to property owners, local governments are unable to adequately fund stormwater infrastructure.
Republican Rep. Brett Miller of Lancaster was the only member of his party to sponsor the bill.
Other state House Republicans acknowledged the financial burden stormwater regulations place on local governments but expressed concern about how such fees would affect the state's finances.
In Harrisburg, home to a sprawling government complex, the state's refusal to pay storm water fees for about 5.4 million square feet of impervious surfaces is costing Capital Region Water $386,956 a year, city board Chairman Mark Kurowski testified before a state Senate committee in 2022.
“Look at it this way: The state issues a mandate to address storm water runoff. Capital Region Water implements a plan to address storm water runoff. And then the state refuses to pay for the mandate it imposed and the problems it caused,” Kurowski said.
Rebecca Laufer, external relations manager for Capital Region Water, told Spotlight PA that the state had an outstanding balance of more than $1.4 million as of this month.
“Other governmental entities have not been reluctant to pay the storm water fee,” Laufer said. “That includes cities, counties and the federal government.”
The case, now on appeal in the state Supreme Court, could have far-reaching effects on the small but growing number of municipalities that have instituted such fees.
Last year, the state university West Chester won a ruling that the fee was a tax the university did not have to pay. The court also said that using the amount of impervious surface area to determine the fee did not correlate with the benefit of paying the fee.
A spokesman for the Pennsylvania Attorney General's Office, which is representing West Chester University in the lawsuit, and a spokesman for state Senate Republicans, who control the state Legislature, declined to comment on the bill.
Dozens of municipalities and government groups argued in amicus briefs that upholding the lower court's decision would leave local officials lacking the financial resources to meet their obligations and maintain necessary infrastructure without raising property taxes.
The Chesapeake Bay Foundation is also asking the state Supreme Court to overturn the lower court's decision. The environmental group argues in legal papers that exempting state-owned lands from local storm water fees doesn't stop those lands from contributing to storm water runoff.
Julia Krall, the foundation's executive director in Pennsylvania, noted that public and private landowners across the state agree to pay these local storm water fees to support programs that reduce pollution and meet government obligations.
“Having the state pay its fair share of stormwater treatment costs on state-owned lands supports locally created and managed stormwater treatment programs that are a vital part of ensuring we have clean, abundant water,” Krall told Spotlight PA. “Our health, well-being and quality of life depend on it.”
This story was produced by Spotlight PA's State College area affiliate.We are an independent, nonpartisan newsroom dedicated to investigative and public service journalism in Pennsylvania. Sign up for our North Central Pennsylvania newsletter, Talk of the Town. Visit spotlightpa.org/newsletters/talkofthetown.
