The Stream Protection Fee:
Where Do We Go From Here?
Background
The Stream Protection Fee (SPF) is Borough Council's response to an unfunded regulatory mandate. It requires local governments to reduce sediment pollution to make our water fishable, swimmable, and clean enough to continue to be our source of drinking water. This is a big undertaking, because the Borough has to reduce runoff with projects like bumpouts and rain gardens, and it must also repair our decaying 100-year-old underground stormwater system (pictured above).
After 7 meetings of a special stormwater committee (residents, nonprofits, businesses, WCU, Borough staff), 10 Borough Council meetings, 12 public/stakeholder meetings, and 2 public hearings, Borough Council chose the SPF to fund the improvements because this distributes the financial burden among all Borough entities. Unlike a tax, the fee applies to residents, businesses and non-profits. A tax would have exempted all non-profit parcels and increased the financial burden on residents and businesses by 25%.
Issues
After speaking with many residents, I have identified four concerns with the program:
1-Inconsistent property assessments. The fee is based on the % of impervious surface on your parcel. In some cases, parcels with similar footprints are charged different fees due to imperfections in the mapping data used to calculate the percentages.
2-Hardship. The fee is a financial hardship for some residents.
3-Difficult appeals process. The process for appealing an assessment, which involves measuring and graphing your property, can be cumbersome.
4-No sunset provision. No provisions exist to sunset the fee because it is difficult to predict when the streams will be healthy again There are 50 projects already identified to help achieve the mandate.
Some have also suggested repealing the program altogether. This may sound appealing, but Borough Council would still need to find a way to pay for this mandate. Simply proposing a repeal is not reasonable without a viable, equitable funding alternative.
Moving Forward Together
I did not take part in designing or implementing the SPF program but, as mayor, I will work with stakeholders and Borough Council, which has the decision-making authority to make changes to the program. I think the Borough can:
- Adopt criteria to exempt lower-income residents.
- Strengthen the credit program, which financially incentivizes residents and business owners who put measures in place to reduce stormwater runoff.
- Streamline the appeals process and ensure that Borough personnel are assigned to support appeals, so they're easier and more efficient.
- Investigate ways to make property assessments more consistent.
Finally, any sunset provision will be dictated by the progress the Borough makes in cleaning up our waterways and should be re-evaluated on a regular basis.
I look forward to your comments!