On Monday, at 1
p.m., the Porter County Storm Water Management Board will hold a public
hearing on a proposed ordinance to establish a Storm Water User Fee
structure.
The meeting will be
inside the County Commissioner Chambers at the County Administration
Building, 155 Indiana Ave. in Valparaiso, Room 205.
According to a
draft of the ordinance provided to the Chesterton Tribune by the
Porter County Plan Commission office, all property owners located in the
unincorporated areas of Porter County starting on Jan. 1, 2016 shall be
charged an annual fee for use of the Storm Water Management Program based in
part on the amount of storm water that is projected to be discharged from
each parcel of property.
“The fee is
intended and designed to assess users their fair and equitable share of the
cost of the Storm Water Management Program in a way that is practical and
reasonable to administer,” the ordinance states.
The intent to
create the management program is to protect properties from property damage
caused by flooding and to mitigate the impacts on surface water quality and
runoff.
Once enacted, all
property owners, residential and non-residential, in the unincorporated
areas will pay a $120 annual or $10 monthly fee for each “equivalent
residential unit,” or ERU, determined by the ordinance.
A one or two family
dwelling on 0-9.99 acres is designated as one ERU; 10-19.99 acres is 1.25
ERU or $12.50 per month; 20-29.99 acres is 1.5 ERU or $15 per month;
30-39.99 acres is 1.75 ERU or $17.50 per month; 40 acres or larger is 2 ERU
or $20 per month.
For multiple-family
Residential, mobile home parks, condominiums, subdivisions, one residential
unit will count as .35 ERU or $3.50 per month. If the owner has four
residential units, they would pay $14 per month.
For agriculture,
parcels of 80 acres or less would equal 1 ERU. A farm parcel between 80 and
160 acres will be 2 ERU and so forth.
Non-residential
properties would be assigned a separate ERU rate per 20 acres based on its
use. One ERU for Institutional will be $15 per month, Commercial and Office
will be $17.50 per month and Industrial will be $18.75 per month.
User fee charges
for contiguous parcels may be consolidated into a single fee account.
Properties under
construction shall be billed to the parcel owner of record as of March 1 of
the billing year. The builder or developer is responsible for the fee until
such time as the property is sold or transferred.
After the first
four years that the fee has been established, the fee structure and the ERU
rate may be amended to generate more revenue not to exceed three percent
annually of the established rate.
The fees will be
included in the parcel owner’s semi-annual property tax bill. They shall be
deposited into a non-reverting storm water fund.
Any property owner
can appeal their fee up to 90 days after they are billed. The owner must
show in their appeal evidence that their parcel is not impacting the storm
water system.
Revenues can be
spent by the Board for such purposes as acquisition of property needed to
construct and maintain storm water management facilities, engineering and
design, maintenance and inspection, public education and outreach, and other
activities that go with managing the storm water program.
The ordinance
states that the Storm Water board can by resolution establish a system of
credits and incentives for qualifying properties that would reduce the fee
charged. The Storm Water Advisory Council may provide recommendations to the
board regarding credits and incentives.
The Storm Water
Management Board consists of the County Board of Commissioners and the
County Surveyor. It has been said by board members that the ditch tax being
paid by parcel owners on regulated drains will cease with the implementation
of this fee.
Residents and
businesses within a municipality or a conservancy district paying a storm
water fee already will not be charged by the County Storm Water Board.
The County a few
years ago administered a comprehensive drainage study to estimate the costs
to resolve issues caused by storm water. The most troubled area discovered
was in the South Haven area where it is estimated that up to $18 million is
needed to put in new infrastructure.
The ten priority
areas the study named that would cost between $5 million and $10 million
each for improvements include: the Damon Run watershed, the Bernhard Koselke
Ditch in Liberty Twp., the Brown Ditch watershed in the Towns of Beverly
Shores and Pines, Kemper Ditch in Pine Twp., the Duck Creek area in Wheeler,
Ludington Ditch (Downstream Lake Eliza), Old South Haven, Dog Lake Ditch in
Hebron, Smith Ditch in Valparaiso, and CR 700 W west of Swanson Rd.