All improved lots within the corporate limits of the Town of North East are subject to the fee.

The fee has no effect on the out-of-town properties the Town serves water.

Title 4 Section 204(d) of the Environment Article of the Annotated Code of Maryland authorizes municipalities to adopt a system of charges to fund the implementation of stormwater management programs.

The purpose of the stormwater management fee is to provide a dedicated revenue source to fund the required activities of the Town’s stormwater management program. This allows the Town to account for the expenses in a way they are clearly identified. It also allows the Town to charge property owners based on their contribution to stormwater run off.

If these activities were to be funded by property taxes, it would put an unfair burden on residential property owners since there are tax exempt properties that have large impervious surface areas that contribute to runoff (i.e. churches and schools). Additionally, residential property owners would also be subsidizing commercial properties that may have an assessed value similar to some homes but with much more impervious surface area.

If these activities were to be funded with tax revenues the Town would have had to raise its property tax rate by 5.3 cents which would have resulted in a residential property assessed at $200,000 paying an additional $106.60 in property taxes as opposed to the $22.40 they will pay in FY 2020 under the fee structure.

The stormwater management fee for the Fiscal Year 2020 which begins on July 1, 2019, is $5.60 per quarter per equivalent residential unit.

Stormwater management fees will be billed on the same bill as the Town’s quarterly water bill. Bills are mailed at the end of September, December, March, and June and they are due one month later.

A study of the impervious surface on residential lots in town revealed the average impervious surface is 1,180 square feet. All single family, townhouses, and condos will be billed for one ERU regardless of actual impervious surface area on their property.

Commercial, industrial, institutional, governmental, and other tax-exempt properties (as well as apartment complexes) will have their ERU’s calculated by dividing the actual amount of impervious surface on their properties by 1,180 square feet and rounding to the next whole number. So a commercial property with 10,000 square feet of impervious surface would be billed for 9 ERU’s (10,000/1180=8.47, rounded to the next whole number is 9).

Impervious surface is any surface that is compacted or covered with material that is resistant to infiltration by water, including but not limited to, most conventionally surfaced streets, roofs, sidewalks, patios, driveways, parking lots, and other oiled, graveled, graded, compacted or similar surfaces that impedes the natural infiltration of surface water and from which stormwater runoff will be produced.

Impervious surface area means the number of square feet of horizontal surface covered by buildings and other impervious surfaces.

Common areas owned by a community association or homeowner’s association will be charged based on the total impervious surface area on the common area and bills will be mailed directly to the association.

When you pay your combined water and stormwater utility bills your payment will be first applied to the stormwater management fee. If you were to short your utility payment by the amount of the stormwater fee you will end up with an unpaid water bill which can result in your water service being shut off for nonpayment and additional fees being charged to your account.

Any unpaid stormwater management fee constitutes a lien against the property and may be collected in the same manner as unpaid taxes (i.e. the property can be sold at the annual county tax sale).

Within 30 days of a bill being issued to a property owner, the property owner may request an adjustment of the utility fee. A request for an adjustment must be submitted to the Director of Finance and Administration in writing stating the grounds for the request and providing any evidence to substantiate the request.

The Director of Finance and Administration may adjust the fee if:

The property was incorrectly classified;
The impervious surface area is incorrect;
There is a mathematical error in calculating the fee; or
The property owner invoiced for the fee was identified in error.