Some Pa. municipalities are turning to fees to cover rising stormwater costs, but pushback and a lawsuit threaten that revenue

FERGUSON TOWNSHIP — A small but growing subset of Pennsylvania municipalities are turning to stormwater fees as they face the burden of maintaining aging infrastructure that is being tested by climate change.

The model is facing pushback from farmers who employ separate mitigation practices and large property owners confronted by pricey bills. The latter group includes West Chester University, which won a judgment in state court last year that found the fee was actually a tax that nonprofits like the school don’t have to pay.

Municipal entities say the case, currently on appeal to the state Supreme Court, threatens a multimillion-dollar revenue source and their ability to keep pollution out of local waterways.

The pipes, drains, and gutters that make up stormwater systems are largely invisible to most people until something goes wrong, but they are critical to prevent flooding, property damage, and pollution.

As Pennsylvania’s stormwater infrastructure — graded a “D” by the American Society of Civil Engineers in 2022 — gets older and heavy rain becomes more frequent, maintaining deteriorating pipes and drains is getting harder and more expensive.

The state doesn’t tell municipalities how to fund stormwater management, but the vast majority pay for projects out of their general budgets. However, those dollars are subject to competing demands and are unlikely to grow without an increase in local property taxes.

About 87 of the state’s more than 2,500 municipalities have instead turned to a stormwater fee, according to Andy Yencha, a water resource educator at Penn State Extension who has helped municipalities draft plans for stormwater fees.

“Right now, it’s this nice, neat stormwater fee that can only go to stormwater, and I think it’s effective,” Yencha said.

Though the state offers funding for urban and suburban stormwater projects through the Pennsylvania Infrastructure Investment Authority and other grant programs, competition for these dollars is tough.

“People have to pay one way or another because stormwater isn’t going away,” Yencha said.

The size of the bill

Stormwater requirements depend on whether a municipality is urban or rural, its size, and other factors.

Municipalities that are considered “urbanized areas” due to their population density are required to use municipal separate storm sewer systems — commonly referred to as MS4s — which collect rain or snowmelt from roadways, parking lots, and other paved surfaces and discharge it into a nearby stream or river without being treated first.

They must also develop and implement stormwater pollution reduction plans and demonstrate improvement in water quality through detection and testing. The program also outlines guidelines for public education and other efforts to promote best practices

— or risk government fines.

More than 1,000 municipalities in Pennsylvania have MS4s. Rural areas commonly rely on other policies, such as land development and stormwater management plans.

All of this costs money, so municipalities have turned to fees to fund related stormwater infrastructure, watershed protections, and pollution mitigation.

Most local governments with such a fee use the amount of impervious surfaces — such as buildings and pavement — to determine how much a property owner pays. Impervious surfaces don’t allow water to absorb into the ground, resulting in more runoff and strain on stormwater infrastructure.

The typical homeowner pays about $120 each year, or $10 a month, Yencha said.

But for farmers, the approach can result in a bill totaling in the thousands because their land usually has more buildings, roof cover, and paved areas.

The Pennsylvania Farm Bureau and the state Department of Agriculture couldn’t provide a number for how many farmers are affected by these municipal fees. But the Farm Bureau, a lobbying group that represents thousands of farmers statewide, told Spotlight PA that they’ve received an uptick in calls from members concerned about these local charges and how to handle them.

“You don’t want to raise Cain because you don’t want to sound like you don’t care about the environment,” Chris