Stormwater runoff management is expected to cost property owners in South Williamsport and DuBoistown.

Starting in July, a fee is scheduled to be imposed through sewer bills to cover these expenses, according to Christine Weigle, executive director of the Lycoming County Water and Sewer Authority.

Weigle was joined by John Bickhart, authority engineer services manager, both of whom described the related costs and the program vision for residents Monday night at the South Williamsport Borough Building.

“It’s the most equitable and fair solution we’ve found,” Bickhart said.

The authority has joined in a working partnership with the boroughs.

The fee works in place of a real estate tax increase, they said.

Instead, the average cost per equivalent dwelling unit (single family residential property) would pay an estimated $10 per month, or $120 a year, he said.

In comparison, generating the needed $550,000 for the first year of the program operation would require 2.2 mills of real estate tax, he said.

For a property assessed at $92,777 that’s $204 more a year, he added.

The fee doesn’t spare other properties such as non-taxable churches, government buildings and school building land.

Larger commercial and industrial properties will have the higher fees based on the amount of impervious land.

Stormwater originates from rain and snow/ice melt that runs off of all surfaces, the authority said.

It comes off rooftops, and down driveways, parking lots, patios, sidewalks, lawns and buildings.

The water makes its way into storm drains, catch basins, inlets, swales and streams — eventually leading to the West Branch of the Susquehanna River, Susquehanna River and the Chesapeake Bay.

The stormwater program will help the authority to calculate the permit figures and pollutant load reductions as required in municipal separate storm sewer system mandates and extra permit requirements as part of the Chesapeake Bay Pollution Reduction Plan, Weigle said.

In the past, traditional management of stormwater meant “convenyance,” the officials said. Nowadays, it’s more complicated than shuttling water away from homes and buildings to the streets and into the drains. Water quality and quantity are more strictly regulated by U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and state Department of Environmental Protection, Weigle said.

Increased regulations are administered through a permit referred to as a municipal separate storm sewer system permit.

The permit contains compliance elements which must be achieved by the boroughs, Weigle said. The permits are issued every five years.

Aside from that, extra requirements — unfunded mandates — include reduction of sediment, phosphorus and nitrogen removal of more than 105,000 pounds of sediment through a project or Best Management Practices.

The stormwater fee is subject to change and the officials say they are leaning toward incremental increases over the five-year permit period as debt is incurred.

The program is expect to address growing regulatory requirements and aging infrastructure issues, Weigle said.

The next few months are critical as the schedule and implementation unfolds.

Over the winter months, the boroughs prepare to adopt their budgets. The boroughs then finalize intergovernmental agreements, update their Chesapeake Bay Pollution Reduction plans, define projects and costs, develope and appeal process and credit program.

In spring, the boroughs finalize fee structure and adopt them; submit the combined “Bay” reduction plans to the state Department of Environmental Protection and then integrate stormwater management program fees into a sewer billing format, Weigle said.

Then, after the invoices are sent, the boroughs expect to continue to engage with property owners, develop a means of listening to complaints and appeals, implement a credit program, finalize design of compliance projects and assess the compliance status.