Stormwater Remediation Fee: Information and Upcoming Hearing Date

At the June 5^th York Road Partnership meeting, some residents had questions about legislation currently before the City Council that would implement a “Stormwater Remediation Fee” on all properties in Baltimore City.

In April of 2012, the State of Maryland passed a stormwater management bill which requires Baltimore City and each of the state’s nine largest counties to create separate stormwater utilities, funded by user fees, which will be responsible for each subdivision’s comprehensive stormwater management programs. Tougher regulations from the federal and state government mandate that these subdivisions - which border the Chesapeake Bay - do more to manage and cleanse stormwater runoff before it pours into our waterways. There is no dedicated funding from the state to help us meet these new requirements, and therefore a fee must be implemented.

In November of 2012, Baltimore City voters approved an amendment to the City’s charter establishing a stormwater utility, which will make it possible to collect revenue from a stormwater management fee and ensure that this revenue is only utilized for stormwater management purposes. The stormwater utility will pay for replacing and repairing aging infrastructure, maintaining and improving the storm drainage system, street sweeping, watershed and stream restoration projects, and other measures to reduce polluted runoff.

Currently before the City Council is legislation creating a stormwater management fee and describing the utility’s processes for setting, collecting, and spending the fee.  Over the last several weeks, members of the Council’s Judiciary & Legislative Investigations Committee have been going through this legislation line-by-line with residents, business owners, non-profits, and church leaders. These work sessions have been open to the public and have attracted a very diverse and engaged audience which, collectively, has offered many amendments which will be considered by the committee.

In its current form, the proposed fee system is tiered for residential properties (referred to as “SFR,” or “Single Family Residential) based on square footage of impervious surface. Tier 1: homes with impervious area less than or equal to 820 square feet: $48 per year.Tier 2: homes with impervious area greater than 820 square feet and less than or equal to 1500 square feet: $72 per year.Tier 3: homes with impervious area greater than 1500 square feet: $144 per year.

For all other properties, known as “NONSFR,” the charge is based on an “Equivalent Residential Unit,” or ERU, which represents 1050 square feet. All NONSFR properties will be charged $72 per ERU per year.

The next public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, June 11, at 11:00 a.m. in Council Chambers, on the 4^th floor of City Hall.  This hearing will function mostly as a chance for the committee to go through all of the amendments that have already been submitted; no public testimony will be permitted during the hearing, but written testimony may be sent to me (Maggie.Porter@baltimorecity.gov) and I will pass it along to the committee.

If you’re able, I encourage you to attend the hearing on Tuesday to get a sense of what the process has been like and find out more about the amendments that have been proposed. And as always, feel free to contact me with any questions or clarifications.