Wed Feb 22 2012
by Jeff Saunders | Reporter
Summit County -- Homeowners could pay around $12 a year under a proposed countywide stormwater management plan.
According to the Summit County Engineer's Office proposal, property owners would be charged $1 per month for every 3,000 square feet of impervious surface area, such as pavement or a roof.
"It would cost the average homeowner about $1 per month," said Heidi Swindell, spokesperson for the engineer's office, on Nov. 30.
In addition, the plan calls for the fee to increase to $3 per month after two years, unless Summit County Council approves a different rate.
Swindell said it is estimated that the initial fee would raise between $5 million and $6 million annually for stormwater mitigation projects.
"We don't have the hard numbers, yet," said Swindell. "But that's the engineer's best estimate."
Swindell said the proposal is based on a $46,000 study conducted by the Joint Center for Policy Research of Lorain County Community College's Public Services Institute. She said a study draft was circulated among county communities for feedback last spring through the Summit County Mayors Association and the Township Association of Summit County. The proposal was then given to the communities for further feedback in November.
She said the engineer's office is "hoping before the end of the year" to take the plan to County Council for consideration and approval.
Macedonia Mayor Don Kuchta said he likes the plan in part because local communities will have input and even authority in its implementation and it provides accountability.
"It's going into an office that is answerable to the voters," he said.
Northfield Village Engineer Richard Wasosky said he too likes the plan.
"I feel it's the way to go. I really don't have anything negative to say about the plan," he said.
In a Nov. 1 letter to Township Association President James Nelson, County Engineer Alan Brubaker wrote that the proposal calls for funding by a utility fee, rather than through a property tax assessment, because "input received from local governments provided a clear preference for this method of funding."
Brubaker wrote that other feedback-inspired features of the proposal include requiring a community's consent for projects within its boundaries, as well as giving communities input in a study of future needs through a surface water management board made up of community representatives.
"This proposal will create a board to provide for local control of setting regional priorities," wrote Brubaker.
The proposal, said Brubaker, also ensures that board representation is "distributed both geographically and by community size" and would separate funding raised in northern communities from that raised in southern ones.
"This change addresses the concern presented by communities about whether funding would remain within major watersheds for programs within those areas," wrote Brubaker.
Brubaker proposed last year that the county create its own stormwater program in response to a plan being proposed by the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District.
The NEORSD includes most of Cuyahoga County and parts of North Summit County and under its pl an, homeowners would pay a fee averaging $4.75 per month. This would raise about $38 million annually for stormwater control measures. Kuchta said he has long supported the development of a county plan.
"If we're going to send money to someone, I'd rather it be to our own county rather than another county," he said.
Wasosky said that the village's 50-year-old stormwater system is considerably younger than systems in older communities to the north, particularly Cleveland and therefore the village would be "subsidizing them for improvements."
"We don't have any major flooding problems so we would essentially be a donor community," he said.
The NEORSD argues that Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas decisions in the 1970s gives it the right to create such a plan within the district and asked the court to reaffirm this in January 2010.
However, the Summit County Prosecutor's Office is arguing that state law gives the county engineer's office authority over stormwater issues. The prosecutor's office, northern Summit County communities within the district and some Cuyahoga County communities have joined the case in opposition to the NEORSD's plan.
A trial began Oct. 21, but was adjourned until Dec. 14.
Last April, Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge Thomas J. Pokorney ruled that seven of the 11 Summit County communities were not subject to the NEORSD's authority because they did not have written agreements with the district.
These include Boston Heights, Hudson, Twinsburg, and Bath, Northfield Center. Richfield and Twinsburg townships.
Summit County communities that are still a part of the litigation include Macedonia, Northfield Village, Sagamore Hills and Richfield Village.
E-mail: jsaunders@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3169
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