Erie City Council set to reconsider stormwater fee; would fund repairs to aging system

Kevin Flowers, Erie Times-News
·5 min read
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Erie Mayor Joe Schember’s push for a citywide stormwater fee is back on Erie City Council’s agenda.

Council, at its regular meeting on Wednesday, unanimously approved a first-reading ordinance that seeks to establish the fee.

City officials estimate a stormwater fee could bring the city as much as $1.7 million each year. The fee would be assessed on city property owners regardless of taxable status.

Unchartered waters:Erie City Council to debate new stormwater fee

The city of Erie is considering a new stormwater fee that would be assessed on all property owners regardless of taxable status. The fee could generate up to $1.7 million a year to make stormwater system repairs/improvements within city limits.
The city of Erie is considering a new stormwater fee that would be assessed on all property owners regardless of taxable status. The fee could generate up to $1.7 million a year to make stormwater system repairs/improvements within city limits.

Renee Lamis, Schember’s chief of staff, said she hopes City Council will give final approval to the fee as soon as council’s Oct.19 meeting so the fee can become effective citywide in 2023. Ordinances must be approved twice by City Council before they go into effect.

A different political landscape?

Council in December rejected implementation of a stormwater fee by a 4-3 vote.

However, several things have changed since then.

Three new members of council who took office in January — Jasmine Flores, Maurice Troop and Chuck Nelson — did not participate in that vote.

Schember’s administration also established a new 12-member advisory committee made up of citizens, business leaders and others to work with the city’s stormwater consultant, Wood Environmental & Infrastructure.

City Council vote:Stormwater fee fails to win majority support

Stormwater plan:Advisory committee on tap as part of renewed push for citywide fee in Erie

That committee examined the proposed fee structure and helped to develop credit and appeals policies regarding the proposed fee.

A July 1 storm sewer failure underneath Frontier Lumber, 762 E. Fifth St., created this 30-foot-long sinkhole at the property, photographed on Sept. 1, 2021. Contractors hired by the city of Erie are repairing the storm sewer line and related damage.
A July 1 storm sewer failure underneath Frontier Lumber, 762 E. Fifth St., created this 30-foot-long sinkhole at the property, photographed on Sept. 1, 2021. Contractors hired by the city of Erie are repairing the storm sewer line and related damage.

For example, homeowners can earn a fee credit of up to 45% for installing retention ponds, underground filtration systems, rain gardens or taking other measures to handle stormwater and reduce runoff.

Property owners also have access under the plan to an appeals process that allows for challenges of the stormwater fee assigned to their properties. Appeals will be reviewed by the city's Department of Public Works, Property and Parks.

Credit and appeals process part of reason for past opposition

The lack of a fully developed credit and appeals process was cited by some City Council members as a reason they opposed establishing the fee in 2021.

“We addressed the things that council asked for,” Lamis said. “I don’t like to count on anything before a vote happens, but I think City Council realizes that we have significant issues that we have to fix with our stormwater system.”

Wood Environmental, with offices in Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, has conducted an extensive study of the city’s stormwater infrastructure, including what it will cost to repair and upgrade the system and how to pay for improvements.

The consulting firm has also recommended that the city establish a stormwater fee. Wood Environmental has been paid nearly $140,000 for stormwater-related consulting work on the city’s behalf, with some of that money coming from state grant funds.

Nelson said he plans to support the new fee.

“Homeowners in Erie are overburdened with municipal taxes and fees, but to fund the needed (stormwater) improvements through property taxes would be much more burdensome,” Nelson said. “By doing a stormwater fee we take much of the cost off of our homeowners.”

Erie City Councilman Chuck Nelson.
Erie City Councilman Chuck Nelson.

Schember's stormwater-fee push

The stormwater fee has been a priority for Schember, who believes it would help cover the multimillion-dollar costs related to ongoing stormwater system maintenance and improvements and help the city meet state and federal environmental requirements for stormwater systems.

Under the city’s plan, owners of larger properties inside city limits would pay more in a yearly fee based on square footage and how much of their properties are covered by impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, streets, walkways and patios, that allow little or no stormwater infiltration into the ground.

Erie's stormwater charge would be based on a billing unit of $24 per year for properties and a median square footage for properties of 2,136 feet.

Single-family homes in the city would pay a stormwater fee between $12 and $36 per year depending on their actual square footage.

The committee's work

Sherri “Sam” Mason, an associate research professor and director of sustainability at Penn State Behrend, was a member of the city’s stormwater advisory group.

Meadville created a similar committee before enacting its citywide stormwater management fee in 2012.

Kevin Flowers:A citizen group will probe a possible Erie stormwater fee. A similar move aided Meadville

“The committee really represented the diverse perspectives of the community,” Mason said. “For the most part, I would say 90% of us were in agreement that the way things are structured right now is fair and it doesn’t put a lot of financial pressure on homeowners.

Sherri "Sam" Mason, a sustainability professor at Penn State-Behrend, is a member of the city of Erie's stormwater advisory committee.
Sherri "Sam" Mason, a sustainability professor at Penn State-Behrend, is a member of the city of Erie's stormwater advisory committee.

“The lion’s share of the cost will be borne by agencies that have a whole lot more (impervious) surface,” Mason said. “And nothing proposed in Erie is out of the norm in terms of the policies you see in other places.”

The Schember administration’s push was accelerated after a massive storm sewer failure on East Fifth Street in July 2021 that cost the city more than $1.2 million to repair and damaged both a lumber business and a rental home.

Crumbling infrastructure:East Erie storm sewer failure to cost city at least $1.2 million

Schember has said the incident underscores the need for a stormwater fee because the city is aware of other crumbling infrastructure underneath city streets, homes and buildings that need repairs.

The Erie Times-News reported in September 2021 that there are more than $10 million worth of storm sewer projects citywide that need to be addressed immediately to avoid the kind of massive failure the city saw on East Fifth Street.

Report:It will cost $10.5 million to fix crumbling sewers in these Erie neighborhoods

City Council has OK’d using about $10.5 million of its $76 million allocation of federal American Rescue Plan funds for various stormwater repairs in a number of neighborhoods.

Contact Kevin Flowers at kflowers@timesnews.com. Follow him on Twitter at @ETNflowers.

This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Stormwater push: Erie City Council again considers new fee