Cincinnati Councilman Paul Booth says city taxpayers are being charged $7 million a year for storm water service that other Hamilton County residents get for free.

        Wednesday, he called for dismantling the city's Stormwater Management Utility and getting rid of codes that have property owners paying $40-$120 a year for the service.

        “What city taxpayers don't know is that Hamilton County residents are receiving similar services without paying a separate storm water fee,” Mr. Booth told council.

        But Cincinnati's city manager and the Metropolitan Sewer District director said that's not true. County sewers and city storm water programs are separate and distinct, MSD Director Patrick Karney said, and no residents are being overcharged.

        “We don't do storm-water work,” Mr. Karney said. “MSD is prohibited from doing stormwater work.”

        City Manager John Shirey said storm-water runoff and sewage waste are channeled through a combined pipe system in the city, while most of the county has a separate system for each.

        Because of that, he said, city residents are charged a utility fee on their water bills to pay for pipe inspections, repairs and system-wide maintenance.

        “It is all storm water,” Mr. Booth said. “I stand by my assertions that city residents are being double billed.”

        He noted two county resolutions. The first, approved by county commissioners in 1992, funded “elimination of improper storm-water inflows.” In 1995, commissioners also adopted a policy that splits costs for fixing basement flooding caused by storm-water runoff with cities in which the problems occur.

        It isn't so clear-cut, said Mr. Karney, who also oversees the city's storm-water management program. He said the two resolutions were narrowly focused and not meant to imply the county was picking up the tab for all storm-water services.

        “Folks reading it that way, don't have a thorough enough understanding of what storm water is.”

        The 1992 resolution was to provide assistance to residents trying to cope with old and faulty storm-water systems, he said. The cost-sharing plan provides county assistance to local agencies that would otherwise have to foot the entire bill for storm-water systems that flood basements.

        “Most of that is in the city of Cincinnati,” he said.

        Under county and city contracts, MSD is owned by the county and the city is in charge of its operation.

        Mr. Karney said storm-water maintenance is the responsibility of the Hamilton County highway and public works departments along with individual cities, townships and villages. Only Cincinnati and Forest Park have separate storm-water fees, he said.

        But Hamilton County Commissioner Todd Portune, a former Cincinnati councilman who pushed last year for an audit of MSD, said this week that MSD should not be in charge of the city's storm-water management.

        Council members admitted to being befuddled by the overlapping agreements and contracts.

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