(3/8) At its Match 7 meeting, the Emmitsburg Town Council was briefed on the stormwater utility feasibility study from the University of Maryland Environmental Finance Center.

The purpose of the study was to review existing and future aspects of the town’s stormwater management program, including analyzing the current stormwater management system, according to Michelle Kokolis, program manager.

In collaboration with the Town’s Stormwater Utility Feasibility Advisory Committee, the Center discussed different stormwater financing strategies and explored a proposed fee rate structure.

Fees are based on the total amount of impervious cover on a property, including roofs, driveways, patios, and parking lots. The larger the impervious surface the larger the fee. These fees do not consider public sidewalks, roadways and structures that are in the public right of way.

The most common ‘measurement used ‘ in determining fees is the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). An ERU equals the total impervious area for residential properties divided by the total number of residential properties. The average ERU in the Emmitsburg study was 3,072 square feet for the 885 residential parcels in town.

The committee agreed to pursue a tiered ERU system, similar to Gettysburg’s, with no differentiation between residential and nonresidential properties and a quarterly billing.

Although the recommendation from the committee was a yearly fee of $47, the council instead approved the lowest tier, $20 yearly. When put into effect, the $5 stormwater fees will be added to the quarterly water and sewer bill as a separate line item.

The $20 yearly fee will cover funding impervious area restoration offsets in Emmitsburg, such as tree plantings.

The study was undertaken, in part, in preparation for the renewal of the town’s Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, which comes due in October 2023.

Commissioner Burns acknowledged the importance of MS4 to ensure the longevity of the Chesapeake Bay, "but from a small-town perspective it is difficult … until we address everything else, we can’t expect people to start paying higher dollar amounts for something like this."

Nothing’s going to be easy, but we have raised water and sewer rates in the past, at least people were able to see that we were replacing water lines, doing upgrades, Councilmember Frank Davis said. But if we just add a fee called ‘stormwater’ no one is going to know what it means or what it’s for.

To date, the town has put most of its efforts into public outreach and education, and curbing illicit discharge and construction runoff issues.