Conversations ongoing regarding possible stormwater fee for residents and property owners in EBR - WAFB

Conversations ongoing regarding possible stormwater fee for residents and property owners in EBR

BATON ROUGE, La. (WAFB) - While a short-term solution is in place to keep East Baton Rouge Parish in compliance with the federal government when it comes to stormwater, the conversation is now shifting to what residents and property owners may have to pay.

Back in February of this year, Mayor-President Sharon Weston Broome asked a committee to come up with recommendations on how to fix what became a mess.

RELATED: East Baton Rouge Parish creates stormwater advisory committee

But the only recommendation that has come out of the committee, is the one that was approved in August by the Metro Council, which funds stormwater compliance through 2025 using existing City-Parish funds.

“The plan will achieve stormwater compliance through 2025 using existing city-parish resources. This provides a strong foundation for our pursuit of long-term solutions,” said a spokesman with Mayor-President Broome’s Office.

“To satisfy that water quality issue, meanwhile we still want to talk about water quantity. Because again, that’s what residents are more focused on. The amount of water that falls here in Baton Rouge, where it goes, how it’s sent out and away from our parish,” said Councilman Rowdy Gaudet, a member of the Stormwater Advisory Committee.

Now the real work begins to see how much of an impact this could have on people’s wallets.

“If we’re going to ask the residents and the businesses here in East Baton Rouge Parish to pay something to address stormwater, to do a better job of managing our stormwater, we really need to talk about both, the quality as well as the quantity. We need to better manage and better maintain all the canals and bayous that cut through East Baton Rouge Parish,” said Councilman Gaudet.

Gaudet is one of about 20 members of Mayor Broome’s committee, tasked with providing “community-based recommendations for the stormwater utility.”

But there are still no recommendations when it comes to the fees.

“It’s frankly a multi-faceted conversation because once you start talking about a fee, and you start talking about businesses paying it, as well as residents, then you get into well we should look at credits. Maybe businesses can do things to lower their stormwater impact. And so, what does that credit look like? And so the conversation continues and the layers are very multi-faceted so that’s the conversation that we continue to engage in,” said Councilman Gaudet.

Just five stormwater utility fees are being considered for residents as of Wednesday, ranging from 26 cents to $1.65 per 500 feet of impermeable surface.

However, there are several big businesses, universities, chemical plants, government entities and more, that have a lot of land and buildings, and they cuold be looking at a heftier fee.

“And so we want to have conversations with those groups to say look, here’s where the committe has come too. We haven’t fully made a reccomendation, but these are the options we are looking at, this is how it would impact your business, your university, whatever it is, and so we want to get your feedback on what that would look like to you from a fiscal perspective,” said Councilman Gaudet.

Councilman Gaudet says conversations are ongoing about possibly using existing taxes and property millages in a way to shift some of that money to handle stormwater.

“All of that for me is on the table. From all taxing entities. The reality is if we go to residents and ask for a brand new fee, tax, whatever you want to call it, I think there’s going to be a number of people who say, well let’s take a look at the amount we’re paying currently, and is there anything that can go more towards stormwater. And I think again, we need to be ready to answer that question,” said Gaudet.

But Councilman Gaudet says it’s like the East Baton Rouge Parish Metro Council would send any proposal to voters for approval.

The committee is still a few months away from sorting all of this out.

To watch the last EBR Stormwater Advisory Committee meeting from October 26, click here.

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