The state Department of Environmental Protection is extending by two years a deadline for municipalities in the urbanized area of central Blair County to comply with a requirement to shrink the amount of sediment that stormwater carries into streams.

The state has already granted the reprieve until the end of 2025 to six of the municipalities to which those Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) regulations apply, and will probably grant it to the other three, according to officials of the Intergovernmental Stormwater Committee (ISC) — a council of governments comprising all nine.

Despite the reprieve, ISC officials expect that the federally sourced and state-imposed stormwater standards will continue to tighten, as they have for a couple of decades, and that compliance will continue to grow costlier — which has triggered a discussion of plan on how best to generate the needed money.

Ultimately, that could lead municipalities individually to impose stormwater utility charges or to join together in an authority to impose charges — as an alternative to continuing to pay ISC membership costs from their general funds, according to discussions at a meeting Thursday.

“This is a big chunk of our budget,” said Antis Township Manager Doug Brown of the annual ISC assessment that Antis pays.

If stormwater is considered a “utility,” there ought to be a better way to help fund it, or at least an exploration of such a way, “instead of just paying it out of the general fund,” he said.

Paying for its share of ISC costs is a burden for Logan Township, too, although the supervisors haven’t wanted to impose a specific MS4 fee on constituents, said Township Manager Tim Brown.

There would be billing and collection issues with that, he said.

But if the burden grows, “who knows?” he said.

The five-year participation of Logan Township under the current permit is expected to cost the township a total of $1.2 million — an amount that has led one supervisor to rail repeatedly against the “unfunded mandate.”

Enacting a direct fee of some sort would be a matter for each municipality to consider, Tim Brown said.

But if each municipality goes its own way on funding its share of ISC costs, a “patchwork” of radically different costs is likely to emerge, which would not necessarily be fair, according to Doug Brown.

“You could come together as a group” to study the matter, suggested ISC stormwater coordinator Chelsey Weyant.

Maybe the organization should create a committee to do that, Tim Brown said.

No one seemed to disagree.

As a council of governments, the ISC lacks the power to impose direct stormwater fees or assessments on property owners in the member municipalities, according to solicitor Patrick Fanelli.

But an authority could do it, he said.

Creating one would require “additional steps and formation,” he stated.

The DEP seems to be “feeling its way” forward, and it would be a shame to go through that sort of effort, only for the state to say at some point, “never mind,” Doug Brown said.

But he’s trying to look “down the road,” he said.

And realistically, “it’s only going to get more expensive,” he said.

“My gut says, in the next five years, it will be more (costly), and in the next five years, (still) more,” Tim Brown said.

Extension granted

The state has “administratively” extended the five-year general Pennsylvania MS4 permit that was to expire at the end of 2023, under which Hollidaysburg, Blair Township, Bellwood, Allegheny Township, Duncansville and Frankstown Township operate within the ISC, according to engineer Brian Shura of Stiffler McGraw.

It cannot administratively extend the individual MS4 permits under which Altoona, Logan Township and Antis Township operate, Shura said.

The state issued the individual permits in connection with special protection for the high-quality Little Juniata River, which flows through those municipalities, Shura said.

The distinction between the permit types could lead to problems for the ISC if the state creates a new expiration date for the Altoona, Logan and Antis permits that doesn’t match the new end-of-2025 expiration date for the others, according to officials.

That could put project completion requirements for the municipality groups out of sync, according to the officials.

It would make the most sense if the state simply extended the individual permits two years past the end of 2023, to match the general permit expiration for the other six municipalities, Tim Brown said.

The DEP may not know yet what it wants to do about the individual permits, Shura said.

“(But) it’s going to be pretty vital to know before going forward,” Tim Brown said.

To ensure the permit expiration dates line up, the six municipalities operating under general permits could apply for individual ones, Shura said.

That drew a laugh.

The six municipalities with general permits are not going to want to do that, given the expense and inconvenience, Tim Brown said.

All the municipalities that come under MS4 regulations are likely to need individual permits eventually, however, Shura said.

The potential for member municipalities to leave the ISC at the end of the current agreement that binds them together could also cause problems, according to Doug Brown.

That could shift more of a financial burden onto the remaining municipalities, he said.

For now, it’s not a concern, because the projects currently in the works are all “funded” — although it’s not certain whether completing them will fulfill the current obligation to reduce sediment runoff to streams by 1.4 million pounds per year, Shura said.

To head off the possibility of generating funding uncertainty with the end of the ISC agreement only 14 months away, it’s probably best not to commit to other projects without also ensuring they’re funded, Shura suggested.

It’s probably best for the municipalities to stick together, because coming into compliance individually is likely to be more expensive than doing so collectively, Tim Brown said.

Although the ISC members can pull out of the organization without prior notice until a month before the expiration of the current agreement, it would behoove any that want to leave to give adequate warning — at least six months, according to officials.

Mirror Staff Writer William Kibler is at 814-949-7038.