Thu Sep 02 2010
by Eric Marotta
News Leader Editor
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 the cities of Hudson, Macedonia and Bath, the villages of Boston Heights and Richfield, and Northfield Center and Sagamore Hills townships.
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.
Brad Gessner, chief assistant prosecutor for the Summit County Prosecutor's Office, told Record Publishing Co. the county filed its complaint before the NEORSD board officially approved its stormwater management plan to make it clear the county is exercising proactive jurisdiction regarding stormwater management.
Ciaccia also said NEORSD has attempted to coordinate its efforts with Summit County, but without success, as neither the county nor the other parties in the complaint have stormwater management plans.
"I challenged them to bring a program that includes all of northern Summit County," he said, adding NEORSD had proposed "coordinating" management efforts with the county.
He noted the county engineer's office recently requested "emergency funding" from the county in response to NEORSD's proposed stormwater program.
The memorandum Ciaccia referred to, a Nov. 13 e-mail from County Engineer Alan Brubaker to County Executive Russ Pry, requests $25,000 to address "pressing concerns" in the northern part of the county, as well as continued funding in 2010.
"As you know, the county was unable to fund the county's stormwater program in 2009," the memo states. "Due to the lack of funding, my office has been unable to respond to stormwater issues."
Gessner also said that during discussions with NEORSD officials, the sewer district had proposed expanding its stormwater management jurisdiction into areas that are not part of its present service area -- including municipal corporations the county has no jurisdiction over.
"Part of the problem is not all communities in the county are part of the district and they wanted to bring everyone else into their plan," Gessner said.
Gessner also said the county wants to ensure that fees paid by local communities are spent on local stormwater management.
Editor's note: This story was first posted Dec. 31 on www.hudsonhubtimes.com.
E-mail: emarotta@recordpub.com
Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3171
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