HAGERSTOWN, Md. (AP) - The city of Hagerstown will not charge property owners a fee to help pay for a state-mandated stormwater remediation effort, but it is unclear how the city will contribute to the effort.
The Herald-Mail reports that members of the city council on Tuesday quickly shot down city employees' proposal to generate revenue by charging a stormwater fee to residential and nonresidential city properties. Mayor David Gysberts was the lone voice supporting a fee.
A July 5 memo shows the city's Capital Improvement Program budget allocates only "a fraction" of the estimated $210 million cost of complying with the state's plan to reduce nutrient and sediment discharges to the Chesapeake Bay by 2025.
Yearly stormwater fees have already been implemented in some Maryland jurisdictions.
