Greencastle Storm Water Fee Rebate Approved

July 10, 2020

About 2,000 rebate checks will be processed, in order from the highest amount paid to the lowest.

Greencastle, Pennsylvania property owners will receive some of the money they paid in storm water management fees back by Sept. 30.

The rebate was one of the decisions related to the storm water fund and utility made by Greencastle Borough Council, according to the Record Herald. This comes after two work sessions in June to decide how to move forward since the borough received a five-year waiver from the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection for MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) sediment reduction requirements related to Chesapeake Bay cleanup efforts.

Approximately $626,7000 was collected before the storm water fee was suspended and $417,908 will be returned to property owners, according to the Record Herald. The rebate total also includes $60,000 meant for a rain garden at the Lilian S. Besore Library, but the plan was put on hold after library board representatives expressed concern.

There is a sediment reduction project with an estimated cost of $2 million. To address other storm water management needs, the council created a storm water utility and enacted the fee to support it in 2019. The fee was based on the amount of impervious area on a property.

The storm water fees in both Greencastle and Antrim Township were suspended late 2019.

The difference between the amount collected and the amount being rebated will be used for the operation of the storm water utility, reported the Record Herald. A reduced fee will be reinstated for the fourth quarter of 2020, with billing in January 2021. The amount will go from $5.36 per 100 square feet of impervious area to $1.83 per 100 square feet of impervious area.

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Cristina Tuser