Luzerne County government still hasn’t paid its stormwater fee

Luzerne County government has still not paid a stormwater fee, prompting the Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority to request council form a committee to discuss options.

After the stormwater fee took effect in January 2019, county Manager C. David Pedri has periodically discussed interest in negotiating in-kind services or other partnerships to reduce or eliminate the county’s bill.

Pedri said Sunday he had assigned the matter to staffers, but no firm proposal had materialized. Council would have to approve an agreement for it to take effect, he added.

With no advancement of the matter, authority Board Chairman Samuel T. Guesto Jr. is asking council to form an ad hoc council committee to discuss possible partnership opportunities that would benefit both the county and regional stormwater program and “largely offset the county’s fees,” according to a letter sent to council.

Guesto said he has asked the authority’s stormwater management team to prepare ideas on a collaborative partnership it would like to explore with the county. The authority has formed a Stormwater Committee to review this team’s partnership proposals, he said.

If both committees — the authority and proposed council one — agree on a plan, they could both present them to their respective bodies for consideration, Guesto said. He requested a county response that he can report to authority board colleagues at their May 18 board meeting.

Appearing to take great pains to deliver the delinquency message in a nonconfrontational way, Guesto said in his letter that the authority “has a duty to our partners in the stormwater effort to assure that appropriate fees are paid by all and to sponsor and coordinate appropriate and beneficial collaboration among the partners.”

Based on the amount of impervious (nonabsorbent) area within each parcel, the stormwater fee generates funds to pay for projects and work that comply with a federal pollution reduction mandate. This mandate set targets to reduce sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen washing into local waterways, the Susquehanna River and ultimately the Chesapeake Bay.

Thirty-two Wyoming Valley municipalities chose mandate compliance through the authority’s regional stormwater program, arguing the group plan would cost less than individual programs paid by municipal real estate taxes.

In 2019, the county was billed around $125,000 for all properties in its name, officials said at the time. That amount factored in a 40% discount granted because the county must meet its own pollution reduction requirements separate from the regional program, officials said.

The lion’s share of the county’s stormwater bill stems from the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton International Airport in Pittston Township, which is jointly operated by Luzerne and Lackawanna counties.

A 600-acre Luzerne County-owned parcel covering most of the airport has the highest non-residential stormwater fee in the authority’s regional program because it contains 7.5 million square feet of paved areas and structures, records show.

Asked for a current tally of what the county owes, the authority said last week the figure is pending due to the negotiation efforts with the county.

“We have identified significant credit opportunities, and the final amount owed will depend on the extent that the county is able to take advantage of partnership opportunities,” said authority Storm Water Division Manager Jeff Colella.

Colella said the authority will reserve further comment until its May meeting, when county council’s response is known.

Council Chairman Tim McGinley said the committee request will be discussed at an upcoming council work session. It was not listed on council’s Tuesday agenda.

While partnership agreements save money for participating entities, authority officials have stressed they also benefit the regional program in meeting pollution reduction goals.

One example involves the county Flood Protection Authority, which oversees the Wyoming Valley Levee.

Flood Authority Executive Director Christopher Belleman said both authorities came up with a plan that eliminates the flood authority’s stormwater fee by granting permission for the sanitary authority to access its property for pollution-reduction work.

As part of the regional stormwater compliance program, the sanitary authority plans to remove visible sediment build-up along the levee in the diverted Abraham’s Creek near the Swetland Homestead in Wyoming. The authority also plans to restore creek banks from the area of the homestead to the Susquehanna River to stop erosion from eating away at the levee toe. The diverted creek flows under Route 11 through a system known as the 12 tubes drainage structure.