Stormwater Authority FAQ's

Stormwater commonly refers to runoff from rain, snow and ice melting. In the natural settings, stormwater slowly soaks into the ground surface or flows overland into adjacent streams. This process relies on an abundance of pervious surfaces such as grasslands, farmland, lawns, or other natural landscapes. In our communities these natural surfaces are often replaced with impervious or hard surfaces such as streets, sidewalks, parking lots, homes or other similar structures. The result of an urbanized region is the reduced amount of natural area available to absorb stormwater. With an increase in impervious or hard surfaces, a larger amount of stormwater ends up flowing, at a swift rate, over these surfaces where it tends to collect chemicals and debris along the way. If not properly controlled, stormwater can overwhelm streams and embankments and cause major flooding in the communities, along with soil erosion and water pollution.

Each of the incorporating communities has the framework of a stormwater management system that manages the movement of stormwater throughout their stormwater system. The creation of the regional stormwater authority will help fund each of the four communities to improve and enhance their Stormwater Management Programs. Those costs will be the basis for determining how the revenue is generated to address the current and emerging costs. That revenue is then generated by imposing stormwater fees upon all properties within the region served by the stormwater authority. Aging infrastructure and changing regulations require regular maintenance, replacement, and new infrastructure annually. This funding will help advance a strategic region-wide plan to address the millions of gallons of stormwater that are processed by the four communities.

The proposed stormwater program is based on a base rate utility. This means that properties (residential, non-residential, taxable and tax except) in the communities would be charged a base rate based upon an ERU (Equivalent Residential Unit). Meaning a single-family dwelling is assigned 1 ERU. Larger properties with significantly more impervious surfaces may be assigned additional ERUs. If a fee of $3.00 is assessed for each ERU, a single-family dwelling would pay $3.00 per month or $36.00 a year. The fee would be paid by landowners to that authority.

All property owners, including tax exempt properties, will be subject to the stormwater fees, including those on a private well and/or septic system.

If the communities would use its General Fund, which is mostly funded through taxes, then tax-exempt properties would not be contributing to the stormwater system’s maintenance and sustainability. Funding for stormwater would then have to compete with other important spending priorities. To ensure that stormwater maintenance remains a priority, it is important to implement an adequate and stable revenue source. If the growing mandated stormwater costs remain in the General Funds, it would either result in a cut in basic services and/or a tax increase.

The existing stormwater facilities will remain the property of the incorporating municipalities. The proposed regional stormwater authority would collect the fee and in-turn distribute those funds to the incorporating municipalities to use strictly on stormwater related programs and projects.

The municipalities’ General Fund dollars have not fully funded the stormwater program needs on a consistent basis nor fully funded the Programs’ Capital needs. Those dollars have fluctuated over the years, depending upon the availability of capital dollars and the demand for General Fund dollars. It is anticipated the communities will need to consistently fund their Stormwater Management Programs annually in amounts exceeding $1M within the next several years. It is proposed that in 2025, the Stormwater Fee will start replacing and/or supplementing those dollars from the General Funds. The General Funds will then be positioned to fund anticipated increased costs in public safety and road maintenance, the core purpose of the General Fund, reducing the need for future General Fund Tax increases.

Currently, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania has refused to pay stormwater fees that have been levied by municipalities and authorities across the state. However, the General Assembly is currently advancing a Law that would require the Commonwealth to pay these fees, as the Commonwealth is one of the agencies imposing stormwater mandates upon municipalities.

Under federal and/or state law, boroughs, cities and townships are legally mandated to manage both the quantity and quantity of stormwater entering the waters of the Commonwealth. Those mandates are constantly being increased in the area of stormwater. To meet those current and increasing state and/or federally mandated requirements a proposed comprehensive stormwater management program is needed to fund and maintain projects that would maintain and improve stormwater infrastructure. If these requirements are not met, the communities may be subject to very serious fines by the PA DEP and U.S. EPA. It is highly anticipated all four communities will be under federally mandated MS4 Permits (Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System) placing significant additional financial burdens on local governments.

Pennsylvania law is very specific, stormwater management and floodplain management are solely the responsibility of local government, that being borough, township, city or town, as previously defined in this FAQ.

The incorporating communities propose using funding through a stormwater utility management approach that would charge developed properties (taxable & tax exempt) a fair and equitable fee by the Stormwater Authority. These fees will support the costs of maintaining the current system along with the needed capital improvements within the stormwater management system to stay in compliance with the PA DEP and U.S. EPA regulations. The authority would operate under the laws established by the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act and subsequent amendments.

A developed property is a parcel that includes impervious surfaces – which could include pavement, gravel, parking lot, building, roof, brick, stone, asphalt, or cement. An impervious surface is anything that is an artificial structure which impedes the absorption of stormwater into the ground.

The proposed authority would be created under the Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act, which specifically allows the use of stormwater fees to fund stormwater management programs. To be efficient in the administration of the multiple Stormwater Management Programs it is proposed the Stormwater Authority would assist in funding the individual community’s stormwater management programs through a utility management approach.

The proposed authority would consist of 5 members, with one appointed from each of the four incorporating municipalities and the fifth member being at large and appointed by the majority of the incorporating municipalities.

The proposed Articles of Incorporation for the Authority have been drafted collaboratively within the Group and vetted by the respective municipal solicitors to ensure no infringement upon municipal rights as well as to ensure compliance with the Pennsylvania Municipalities Authorities Act. As of July 12, 2024, three of the four incorporating municipalities have completed their public hearing(s) and have adopted the proposed Articles of Incorporation.

If the proposed Southwest Butler Stormwater Authority is created by the incorporating municipalities and the appropriate documentation filed with the Commonwealth, it would become a legal municipal entity and subject to all of the same laws as any municipal entity in Pennsylvania, with the understanding it would be operating under the PA Municipal Authorities Act.

The proposed utility management approach supports the stormwater systems throughout the four incorporating municipalities. Each real estate parcel pays a utility charge in order to fund the capital improvements and maintenance of the public stormwater systems. This is a similar approach to managing public sewer and water systems.

Each of the incorporating municipalities will now have financial support to enhance their stormwater programs. Those individual municipal stormwater management programs will be coordinated by the proposed Stormwater Authority to ensure the stormwater fees are used efficiently. The Authority will develop a proposed rate that will help maintain and enhance the multiple public stormwater systems which are subject to billions of gallons of stormwater that passes through the systems every year. The proposed authority would not create their own stormwater maintenance work force, but to utilize the stormwater fee in much more efficient manner by supporting current municipal efforts.

Commercial properties are assessed differently than residential properties. The more impervious area a property has, the more runoff flows from the property, placing more demand on the region’s multiple stormwater systems. Billing will be based on the impervious surface area of each commercial property. This is a more equitable way to determine the fee than using property values and is a widely acceptable method of stormwater management for commercial businesses across the Commonwealth.

The advance planning done by the Joint Study Group of the four incorporating communities used advanced aerial imagery from available GIS (Geographic Information Systems), such as from Butler County, to identify impervious surfaces. This has created a basic understanding of how a stormwater fee would be implemented. This work was done by and approved by each of the participating municipalities’ municipal engineer, those being HRG (Jackson and Evans City) and Gannet Flemming (Harmony and Zelienople).

Each property/parcel will be assessed at the base rate. The proposed Authority could not reduce the utility cost to lower than the base rate. Properties will be responsible to support the communities’ public stormwater systems as every developed parcel is using it for stormwater management.

The complete stormwater management utility system is composed of both private and public owners. Private stormwater utility systems are those that are owned, managed, and maintained by private owners such as HOA’s, individual lot owners, etc. Public stormwater utility systems convey water from the private sector across the utility network to final outfalls where water quality and quantity are measured. Same as with the sewer, water, electrical and gas utilities, the connections from that utility into a private property are privately owned and maintained.

Real estate taxes are collected from property owners who own taxable property. They are based on the assessed value of their property, to cover the costs of general municipal services, such as street maintenance and public safety. Under a utility approach a base rate rather than a tax is established. The base rate is established on the costs of operating and maintaining the systems.

The costs are distributed across users who are served by the municipal stormwater utility, which in this case are the current and future users of the stormwater systems. As any utility that imposes a fee to support the work it was created to do, landowners are expected to pay the appropriate fee for their property. The same is true for the proposed stormwater authority. The authority would be obligated to follow the law as it pertains to the administration of that fee, including appropriate efforts to collect that fee, which creates fairness for all rate payers.

As previously discussed, the stormwater assets will remain the property of the incorporating municipalities, with the proposed authority serving as the funding agency to support those municipalities. The authority would have the ability to borrow funds, including from the County Infrastructure Fund, however, restrictions on that borrowing ability has been placed in the proposed Articles of Incorporation, requiring approval of the four incorporating municipalities.

If a property owner feels that the base rate imposed upon their property is not appropriate there will be a process established by the authority, once it is formed, to appeal that rate.

The municipalities that are discussing the potential of a regional stormwater authority have been significantly impacted over the decades by stormwater. At the urging of the County’s leadership, the communities in the southwest corner of the County have been meeting informally to build relationships with their shared neighbors in the watersheds that impact them all. They have elevated the awareness of their legal responsibilities at their respective municipalities through education and dialogue with a range of state and federal officials. This has also brought forth a stark understanding of the financial costs they face to enhance their stormwater management system.

In addition, the municipalities studying this regional initiative has been or will very soon been ordered by the Federal and State governments to increase its responsibilities in managing stormwater runoff, just like thousands of other municipalities across the country. This unfunded mandate is incurring annual costs on the communities to maintain its stormwater system in a manner acceptable to meet current regulations and permits. These new costs are not sustainable under the current financing system, creating emerging threats to maintaining the municipalities core services. The approach here is the same approach taken with sewer and water services, they are not paid for by the General Funds, but, based upon fair and equitable charges to the users of those systems. A utility system approach is recommended as the most appropriate response to these mandates and adopted by thousands of municipalities across the country. This regional approach includes a collaboration between the proposed Stormwater Authority and the four incorporating municipalities. It is recognized to be the most fair and efficient manner approach to stormwater management, as stormwater does not respect municipal boundaries.

This is the first time in the history of each of the proposed incorporating municipalities that a focus has been placed on stormwater management. There is no assumption by anyone that flooding will never occur again in these communities. The fact is the federal government has identified floodplains in each of these communities and has stated flooding will occur in these areas under certain conditions. The federal government in turn administers a flood insurance program for improved properties in those floodplains. It is the sole purpose of this collaborative effort to mitigate to the best possible level the severity of that flooding and to provide and financially support a sustainable stormwater system throughout those communities. An option is to do nothing. This would mean the municipalities would continue to face significant underfunding of stormwater management programs and capital needs, effectively doing little to mitigate future flooding events and face very significant fines for failure to comply with Federal/State laws and regulations.

If a stormwater authority is created, it is their responsibility to identify the most efficient manner to impose and collect the stormwater fees. That may include partnering with existing utilities and/or other agencies that are in the business, ie, tax collection agencies.

Single family dwellings are assessed one (1) ERU. Non-residential properties are assessed based upon their impervious surfaces. Each municipality has identified the number of proposed ERUs for all parcels in their municipality.

Each of the four incorporating municipalities will have one representative on the authority’s board of directors, with one appointed at large by all incorporating municipalities, making it a five-person board. That board of directors will be responsible for the administration of the stormwater program consistent with the Articles of Incorporation adopted by each of the incorporating municipalities along with the PA Pennsylvania Municipal Authorities Act.

According to the proposed Articles of Incorporation the Authority is mandated to return no less than a certain percentage of stormwater fees collected in a municipality to that municipality to fund their operational and maintenance costs of their stormwater system. The balance of the funds will be allocated to support a Capital Improvement Plan that is adopted at least every two years by the four incorporating municipalities.

One of the most important lessons the Group has learned is that all levels of government, from the County to the State to the Federal government, value inter-governmental cooperation. Projects advanced that benefit multiple communities historically receive priority from funding agencies. That will be another major benefit for the region served by this authority. The proposed authority would research and advance every opportunity for additional county, state and federal funds to advance improvement in the individual municipal systems, all in close collaboration with the incorporating municipality.

As previously discussed, the municipally appointed members of the board of directors are obligated to follow the Articles of Incorporation creating the authority as well as state law regulating authorities. The board of directors will be fully responsible for the proper administration of those funds, including the distribution of those funds.

Stormwater management, along with floodplain management, is the sole responsibility of local government, as previously discussed. County government has no role in this area, except basic planning. The County has been extremely supportive by providing funding to advance capital projects identified by the Plan developed and supported by the Southwest Butler Stormwater Planning Group. However, that is only a one-time grant, there remains significant need for capital projects as well as a sustainable source of revenue to fund the on-going maintenance of the stormwater systems. Plus, the County has no ability to raise funds for stormwater expenses, except through raising real estate taxes and then only on taxable properties. The County’s only option would be to create a stormwater authority, as is being considered in the four incorporating municipalities.

Evans City Borough, 724.991.8598 or www.evanscity.us/stormwater
Harmony Borough, 724.452.6610, or www.harmony-pa.us
Zelienople Borough, 724.4526610, or www.zelieboro.org
Jackson Township, 724.452.5581, www.jackson-township.com