Summit County — The county common pleas court is being asked to decide whether the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District has the authority to impose a stormwater utility fee in areas it serves in the northern part of the county.

A complaint for declaratory judgment and permanent injunction was filed by Summit County Dec. 30 in the Summit County Court of Common Pleas. Other plaintiffs include Northfield Center and Sagamore Hills townships, the cities of Macedonia, Hudson and Bath, and the villages of Boston Heights and Richfield.

The complaint states, among other allegations, that NEORSD has no authority to impose “stormwater fees, taxes or assessments on Summit County residents” and states the county engineer’s office is better suited to manage stormwater issues in the county. 

The complaint also states county residents have no political representation on the NEORSD board of directors and states any fees needed for stormwater management should be imposed by an official who is accountable to county residents.

NEORSD Director Julius Ciaccia told Record Publishing Co. Dec. 31 the sewer district had planned to seek its own declaratory judgment due to several jurisdictional concerns, including that being posed by Summit County and its partners.

“We agreed, once our board took action, to seek our own declaratory action,” Ciaccia said. 

The NEORSD is scheduled to review the proposed management plan Jan. 9.

Under the proposal, the district would spend $200 million over the next five years developing a regional stormwater management system.

To pay for it, homeowners throughout its service area may be required next year to begin paying an average $4.75 monthly utility fee, while businesses would pay a fee based on their amount of impervious surfaces, such as parking lots and roofs.

The fee, which would be continuous with no set expiration date, would raise about $40 million per year, officials said.