Mark Andrews urges flat stormwater fee, council raises measurement and implementation questions

Mark Andrews, of 417 South Peter Street, urged the Garrett City Council to adopt a flat stormwater fee billed on water statements and modeled on Fort Wayne’s ERU (equivalent residential unit) system. "I think it ought to be just a flat fee starting 1 of January," Andrews said, citing a $6.38 monthly ERU he saw in Fort Wayne for smaller homes.

Andrews said a flat charge would help fund storm-drain maintenance and vacuum-truck costs. He contrasted Garrett City’s smaller tax base with Fort Wayne’s 88,000 homes and said a simple, low monthly fee would be easier for residents to absorb.

Council members and staff raised detailed questions about how a local ERU program would be implemented. One council member asked whether tiers should be based on lot size or house square footage; Andrews and others said Fort Wayne tiers were based on house size. A staff member said parcel assessment would likely rely on Beacon records and would require reviewing each parcel to determine house size and impervious coverage: "so we would have to go through each and every single parcel and each and every single house to determine a square footage," the staff member said.

Officials noted complications the council would need to resolve before adopting any fee: whether accessory structures (detached garages or sheds), unpermitted additions, or large paved yards would be counted; how to treat multi‑year construction projects (for example, whether a commercial site would be charged when it gets a permit or only after a certificate of occupancy); and whether the utility department has capacity to maintain parcel-level data.

The council did not take a vote on a stormwater fee during this meeting. Staff indicated the topic will require further analysis of parcel data, ordinance language and administrative procedures before the council would consider a formal proposal.