ERIC BRADY The Roanoke Times

Roanoke Regional Airport is the biggest source of stormwater runoff in Roanoke. The city wants to charge all residents and businesses for water that flows from the impervious surfaces on their property.

Conventional wisdom has it that the city of Roanoke doesn't always take great care of its assets.

City officials say that's the case with the stormwater drainage system, citing a backlog of more than 200 projects costing more than $60 million as evidence.

To fix the problem, they've proposed a new utility program to fund repairs and new projects. The issue: It could cost city homeowners $36 a year, and businesses potentially thousands of dollars a month.

City council members are split on the issue, and they're holding a 7 p.m. public hearing Tuesday on the matter.

Certainly the issue is politically dicey. Some council members are not convinced about adding a new tax during difficult financial times, especially when they may need to raise other taxes to balance the budget in coming months.

"It's bad timing," Councilman Court Rosen said. "We're in the midst of the worst economy that any of us have ever seen. Businesses are trying to find ways to keep everyone employed and everyone working. When we attach these large utility fees right now in the midst of this economy to property owners who employ our residents ... we're doing a disservice to residents who rely on these places for jobs."

But city staff members say the creation of a stormwater utility is inevitable, given proposed federal and state regulations demanding more local regulation of stormwater runoff.

Chris Pomeroy, a water lawyer who works with the Virginia Municipal Stormwater Association, said that the combination of aging infrastructure and the new regulations has an increasing number of localities across Virginia looking at creating stormwater utilities.

A number of localities in Hampton Roads have used stormwater utilities to more tightly regulate runoff into the Chesapeake Bay. Richmond formed a similar utility in 2009.

But Roanoke City Council members have hedged on the issue.

Councilman Rupert Cutler said he'd like to see the utility adopted "as soon as possible," but he seems to be in the minority. Others agree that stormwater projects should be a city priority, but they disagree on when and how to pay for them.

And three council members -- Mayor David Bowers, Vice Mayor Sherman Lea and Rosen -- have said they intend to vote against creating a utility, at least for the time being.

One of their biggest concerns is a utility's potential effect on economic development.

Stormwater fees for nonresidential entities such as businesses and nonprofit groups are calculated based on how much impervious surface that entity owns. The result is that large landowners, such as Roanoke Electric Steel Corp., Norfolk Southern Corp. and Carilion Clinic, would be billed thousands of dollars each month.

The Roanoke Regional Airport, for example, faces a monthly fee of $16,911. It would qualify for a number of stormwater credits -- which would be accounted for under the new tax proposal -- but those max out at 50 percent, meaning it would still pay more than $8,000 each month.

That's caused some concern, airport spokeswoman Sherry Wallace said.

"Our number one concern for the community is the potential impact on air service," Wallace said. "If we quickly get hit with a $200,000 bill, that money has to come from somewhere. If we have to pass those costs along to our airlines, we're very worried it will affect service."

Glenda Edwards, executive director of the Roanoke Redevelopment and Housing Authority, also has worries. The federally funded housing authority faces a monthly bill of about $2,900. Paired with rising utility costs, the new stormwater fee could cut into services, she said.

There's also concern about the lack of regional cooperation on the issue. Rosen said he is worried that if Roanoke adopts the fees and nearby localities don't, Roanoke will be put at a competitive disadvantage when it comes to attracting employers.

"If they know the moment they walk in, if they locate in the city of Roanoke and own X amount of property, they'll have to pay $50K a year in stormwater-management fees, I think that puts us at a disadvantage as compared to our neighbors, and it's harmful to the city's economy," Rosen said.

Cutler agrees it's a "valid concern." He said that during his time as a board member for the Western Virginia Water Authority he had proposed it administer the program. That regional approach is the way that some Hampton Roads localities have handled the issue, according to Pomeroy.

Council members said they don't plan to take a vote on the issue immediately following the public hearing and will opt instead to "digest" the comments before coming to a decision.

Online: www.roanokeva.gov/stormwater/index.html