The Wyoming Valley Sanitary Authority plans to hire the Fellerman & Ciarimboli law firm to explore taking legal action that may reduce the financial burden on customers charged a new stormwater fee, officials announced Friday afternoon.
Authority board members met in a closed session Friday. Attorney Edward Ciarimboli and authority Chairman Sam Guesto held a news conference in the afternoon and were joined by other authority officials and board members.
The authority has not determined how much it will pay Fellerman & Ciarimboli or who may face legal action from the authority, Ciarimboli said. The stormwater fee stems from a mandate from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency that requires municipalities with stormwater that eventually drains to the Chesapeake Bay to reduce sediment pollution by 10 percent, phosphorus pollution by 5 percent and nitrogen pollution by 3 percent.
The amount of the WVSA fee depends on the amount of impervious surface area on property. WVSA used aerial mapping to determine how much was in each parcel.
For property owners between 100 and 499 square feet, the new bill is $1 a month. For properties between 500 and 6,999 square feet, the bill is usually $4.80 per month. Property owners with at least 7,000 square feet of impervious area pay a monthly fee of $1.70 for every 1,000 square feet.
