Trib: Apartment owners, Catholic diocese dispute Mt. Lebanon stormwater charges

Mt. Lebanon's stormwater fee, which took effect last summer, is facing legal challenges from the owners of an apartment building and the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh.

The owners of the Bower Hill III apartments, on Bower Hill Road, are appealing the fee, which is intended to pay for repairing and expanding the storm sewer system by charging property owners for the runoff they create, on the grounds that the system is flawed. St. Bernard Parish on Washington Road still has not paid, after officials from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh had argued that the church's property is exempt from taxation.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_785480.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Trib: Municipalities find different ways to make ends meet

Many municipalities have opted not to raise their property taxes this year or have reduced proposed tax increases, instead turning to fees, fund transfers and other taxes to help cover expenditures.

In Mt. Lebanon, 2012 will be the first full year of collecting an $8-per-house stormwater fee initially approved as part of the 2011 budget to pay for upgrades to storm sewers, gutters and curbs. The fee is expected to raise about $1.3 million this year, some of which will go toward services tangentially related to managing runoff, such as clearing debris from storm drains, street sweeping and reconstructing curbs as part of the municipality's road reconstruction plans.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_775017.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Essential Public Radio: Stormwater Utilities Might Become More Popular

On days when the region sees heavy rain, many creeks and streams jump their banks and a slew of sewage systems overflow, pumping raw waste into the region’s rivers. The federal government is trying to eliminate those overflows and has entered into consent decrees with many of the region’s sewage utilities.

The repairs and upgrades required by the decrees will cost the region billions of dollars. Much of that will be born by the customers, but Mt. Lebanon has created a storm water utility that assesses a flat fee on every home and a fee on commercial property based on how much impermeable surface is on their land. The collections go into a special fund created to maintain some 75 miles of sewers, drains, curbs and gutters.

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• www.essentialpublicradio.org/story/2011-12-27/stormwater-utilities-might-become-more-popular-9834 (Essential Public Radio)

Trib: Few Mt. Lebanon residents seek storm water fee credits

Don't roll out the (rain) barrel just yet.

Mt. Lebanon's stormwater fee took effect last month, but few people are seeking the credits the municipality is offering for homeowners who buy rain barrels or build stormwater retention ponds, said Public Works Director Tom Kelley.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_761276.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Trib: Mt. Lebanon nonprofits withhold new fee

Two Catholic churches and a school in Mt. Lebanon are refusing to pay the municipality's new stormwater fee, arguing that they are nonprofits exempt from taxation.

St. Bernard Parish on Washington Road, St. Winifred Parish on Sleepy Hollow Road and Seton-La Salle Catholic High School on McNeilly Road are withholding payment while a lawyer from the Catholic Diocese of Pittsburgh meets with Mt. Lebanon's solicitor.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/s_760625.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Trib: Tuesday Takes

Lebo's "fee": One can only wonder how long it will take someone in Mt. Lebanon to file a lawsuit questioning the constitutionality of the South Hills community's storm water "fee" (a tax by any other name). Article VIII, Section 1, of the Pennsylvania Constitution is most instructive.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_754811.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Storm Water Collection and Management Bills Arrive

Mt. Lebanon property owners began receiving their first quarterly storm water collection and management bills this week. The following letter from Municipical Manager Steve Feller accompanied the bill.

Trib: Stormwater utility fee approved in Mt. Lebanon

The Mt. Lebanon commissioners approved a monthly stormwater utility fee for every property in the municipality Tuesday night, but the board acknowledged it still had to clarify some of the related policies.

Starting Sept. 1, all single-family homes, townhouses and duplexes will be charged an $8-per-month fee to go toward the operation, repair and expansion of Mt. Lebanon's 75 miles of storm sewers, along with its drains, curbs and gutters.

All other developed properties will multiply the $8 fee by every 2,400 square feet of impervious surfaces they have, such as pavement, roofs, sidewalks and patios. The fees will be collected in January, May and September.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_750819.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
  

Trib: Mt. Lebanon tables action on new stormwater fee

The Mt. Lebanon commissioners tabled action on a new stormwater fee for property owners on Monday night because of problems with posting the full proposal online.

The $8-per-month fee for each 2,400 square feet of impervious surface would go toward repairing and expanding the municipality's 75 miles of storm sewers, with credits for property owners who reduce runoff with rain gardens, barrels or green roofs.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_748445.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Trib: On The Watch List

Mt. Lebanon's proposed storm water fee. It's raising hackles from those whose properties don't empty into the system and others who say the fee — $8 monthly for most residential properties -- doesn't treat properties of starkly different sizes fairly. Others favor the fee because it forces tax-exempt properties to pay their "fair share." But it is a slippery slope. What's next in Mt. Lebanon, charging for the use of air?

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/opinion/s_746761.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)

Trib: Stormwater fee plan steams some Mt. Lebanon residents

Mt. Lebanon residents expressed their concern Tuesday night that a proposed stormwater fee amounted to a "rain tax" that was unfair to the owners of smaller homes.

The Board of Commissioners is proposing a monthly fee that would be dedicated to repairing and expanding the municipality's aging and inadequate storm sewer system. But, the speakers at Tuesday's public hearing said charging all residential property owners an $8-per-month fee would be unfair to those who had fewer runoff-producing roofs, driveways and sidewalks than the 2,400-square-foot measurement that would be used as the standard.

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• www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/pittsburgh/s_746572.html (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)