Faced with an estimated $9 million in stormwater projects to help North Huntingdon meet the requirements of the federal Clean Water Act, township officials this week were presented with a plan for raising money by levying a fee on property owners.

To reach an estimated collection of $1.8 million annually from a stormwater fee, the township would assess residential property owners $7 per month based on an average home size and driveway, said Tysen Miller, engineering manager for KU Resources Inc., a Duquesne-based engineering firm.

For commercial properties, of which there are more than 1,000 in the township, a higher fee, averaging $66 a month, could be levied. The fee would be based on the size of paved parking lots and the roofs that are impervious to water absorption, Miller said.

The stormwater projects are part of North Huntingdon’s initiative to meet the requirements of the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System regulations, commonly known as MS4. The MS4 permit requires municipalities with sewage processing plants to develop and implement a comprehensive stormwater management program that includes pollution prevention measures, ways to treat or remove pollution, monitoring the initiatives and other measures to control stormwater discharged into storm drains, according to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Commissioner Zachary Haigis, board president, said the stormwater management fee is a proposal commissioners could consider this year, but no decision has been made, and there is no deadline for instituting such a fee.

Derry and Latrobe already have instituted a stormwater project fee, Miller said.

One of the projects that needs to be addressed is the spillway of the dam at Indian Park Lake along Clay Pike, said Bob Robinson, interim township engineer. It is eroding because of water flowing underneath the concrete spillway.

That project could cost about $750,000, Robinson said.

A major stormwater management project under consideration is addressing flooding along the Long Run watershed. That project could cost about $1.5 million.

Throwing some uncertainty into the proposal for a stormwater management fee is a Pennsylvania Commonwealth Court ruling last week that said the levy on property owners to help a municipality pay for stormwater projects is in reality a tax, not a fee, said Bruce Dice, township solicitor.

Dice said that, in his opinion, the Pennsylvania Superior Court is not likely to take the case, and thus the ruling would stand, meaning such a tax would have to be renewed annually by township commissioners.

“You are going to have this tax forever,” Dice said.

Based on the court ruling, it also would mean that government-owned properties — such as municipal buildings, school buildings and highways — would be exempt from the tax, but not nonprofits such as churches, Dice said.

The fee, or tax, would be a stable source of revenue for the township to cover those project costs that are expected to rise, Miller said.

“Implementing a fee is a way of solving stormwater sins of the past,” Miller said.

The township needs a revenue source for the projects that is sustainable, Robinson said. North Huntingdon should have started some of the stormwater projects back in 2020, he said.

If businesses are required to pay a fee for stormwater projects, those costs likely would be passed along to consumers, Commissioner Virginia Stump said.

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