A new user fee may be coming for these Centre County property owners

Property owners in Ferguson Township may eventually have to pay a fee that'll help cover the costs of managing the township's stormwater program.

The proposed stormwater user fee would likely be based on the amount of impervious area on a property, according to township Director of Public Works David Modricker.

Impervious area includes surfaces that prevent water from absorbing into the ground, such as roof tops, parking lots, driveways and sidewalks.

When stormwater can't naturally soak into the ground, water rushes into storm drains, sewer systems and drainage ditches. This can lead to flooding, infrastructure damage, contamination of streams and rivers, and more problems, according to the United States Environmental Protection Agency.

The township's stormwater management program is responsible for handling those types of issues, along with maintaining or improving the infrastructure, Modricker said.

It's currently supported by the township's general fund and the real estate earned income transfer tax, which, unlike the proposed fee, doesn't discriminate on who generates more stormwater, he said. Even those who are tax exempt would have to pay the stormwater user fee.

Modricker said the fee would put more resources into taking care of stormwater problems, as well as increase the township's level of service.

"Right now, there’s infrastructure out there where we don’t know the condition of it, so we need to do a better job at assessing our infrastructure and know what it’s going to cost to replace it and maintain it in the future," he said.

If it's determined that the user fee is worth pursuing, the study will move on to phase two, which would look at how much property owners would pay and how often, Modricker said.

Township staff will host two public meetings on the feasibility study from 5:30-7:30 p.m. Wednesday and 4:30-6:30 p.m. April 18 at the municipal building, 3147 Research Drive, State College.

This story was originally published March 20, 2018 at 2:12 PM with the headline "A new user fee may be coming for these Centre County property owners."