Some residents may be able to trim their stormwater fee 50%

Council OKs new rules to help those with lower incomes

Bethlehem households that meet certain income requirements may be able to reduce their annual stormwater fee by 50% thanks to new guidelines adopted by City Council on Tuesday night.

The federally mandated fees, approved at the end of last year, charge $60 per year for residents of single-family, detached homes. The fee at other properties in the city is determined by a formula.

Under the new guidelines, unanimously approved by council, a household with an income below 150% of the “Health and Human Services Poverty Guidelines for the 48 Contiguous States” can have their bill cut in half.

That means a household of two would need to make less than $26,130, while a household of four would need to bring in less than $39,750.

The fees, which went into effect at the start of the year, are based on the amount of impervious surface a property has. These are areas such as roofs, driveways, sidewalks and streets. These hard surfaces don’t allow water to penetrate them and increase the volume and velocity of stormwater runoff.

All city properties are being charged, regardless of their tax status.

Property owners can also reduce their fees by removing impervious surface areas, like unused driveways. The city’s Department of Public Works can help assess how much the changes will reduce the rate.

Certain property owners can also take credit for qualifying stormwater management structures on their property, such as dry ponds, wet ponds, wetlands, bioretention basins, bioswales and filter strips, permiable pavers and green roofs.

Bethlehem is subject to a permit under the Pennsylvania Clean Streams Law and the federal Clean Water Act that regulates the city’s storm drainage system. The permit, known as a Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System, or MS4 permit, imposes mandates on the city for preventing new pollution and reducing pollution from existing sources.

Bethlehem’s stormwater flows into the Monocacy Creek, Nancy Run, Saucon Creek and the Lehigh River, according to city officials.

The water can carry fertilizers, sediment, oil, grease, heavy metals and trash directly into vulnerable rivers and streams, contaminating downstream water quality, drinking supplies and causing flooding and property damage.

The formula for figuring out the rate for non-single family residential and commercial properties involves determining the square footage of a property’s impervious surface and dividing it by 2,101, or the average square feet of impervious surface a single-family residential home in the city has.

The resulting figure is called a “billing unit,” which is rounded to the nearest whole number and then multiplied by the $60 rate agreed upon by City Council.

A property of less than 500 square feet won’t be charged a fee.

The fee will go into a dedicated fund to help maintain and replace the city’s stormwater system, which was installed prior to modern codes and design standards. As a result, large parts of Bethlehem’s system are deteriorating and under-sized, city officials said.

Mike Alkhal, the city’s director of public works, said to date, no one has contested the new fee, though there have been plenty of phone calls with residents wanting to know more about it. City officials continue to conduct educational outreach programs on the fee, he said.

Easton and Allentown already have enacted fees.

In 2018 Easton adopted a fee of $75 to $85 per year for residents. Under Easton’s plan, businesses pay the same fee for every 1,800 square feet of impervious surface.

The fee went into effect in January 2019.

Allentown approved its controversial stormwater fee in 2018, charging $20 for every 500 square feet of impervious surface. The fee is nominal for most Allentown residents, but some of the city’s biggest properties faced substantial fees.

The fee led the Lehigh-Northampton Airport Authority to file a lawsuit against the city alleging the fee is a tax and unreasonably higher than the actual cost of stormwater collection from the airport’s Queen City property, which was assessed at $71,200 annually.