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Senate Co-Sponsorship Memoranda
Senate of Pennsylvania
Session of 2023 - 2024
Regular Session
MEMORANDUM
| Posted: | December 5, 2022 01:01 PM |
|---|---|
| From: | Senator John DiSanto |
| To: | All Senate members |
| Subject: | Payment of Municipal Stormwater Assessments by the Commonwealth |
| Because of mandates in The Federal Clean Water Pollution Prevention and Control Act, municipal water and sewer authorities throughout a large part of Pennsylvania have been required to implement expensive stormwater management plans in recent years and pass the resulting costs to local property owners. However, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, where it has facilities in locations in which municipal authorities are assessing a stormwater management fee, has been refusing to pay its fair share of the burden. In my district, Capital Region Water informed a senate committee in January of this year that the Commonwealth owes them $387,000 annually in fees assessed on state-owned properties beginning October 2020. The Hampden Sewer Authority in Cumberland County testified they are owed more than $1.2 million since October 2015. It’s a similar story across the state. The Commonwealth argues these stormwater assessments are a local tax against which state agencies are immune. Regardless of the outcome of a current Commonwealth Court case on this issue (Borough of West Chester v. Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, Pa. Cmwlth. Ct. No. 260 M.D. 2018), my legislation would provide specific authorization for municipal authorities to assess stormwater fees at reasonable and uniform rates against the Commonwealth and its instrumentalities, as well as allow appropriate exemptions or credits for state property with its own Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit. All public and private landowners, including businesses, churches, and the federal government, are paying these local stormwater fees enacted as a result of federal and state mandates. Only the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is refusing to pay. Please join me in requiring the state to pay its fair share. This legislation was previously Senate Bill 1360 in the 2021-22 session. |