WEST CHESTER, PA — West Chester Borough Council will consider repealing its Stream Protection Fee Ordinance on Wednesday, formally dismantling a stormwater funding mechanism that generated about $1.2 million annually and shifting the resulting revenue problem to the borough’s 2027 budget process.
A public hearing on repealing Chapter 94A in its entirety is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. Sept. 16 at Borough Hall, 401 E. Gay St., according to the council’s proposed voting-session agenda. The ordinance remains in effect as part of the borough code, although West Chester stopped collecting the charge from all property owners on April 30.
The proposed repeal follows an April 30 Pennsylvania Supreme Court decision in Borough of West Chester v. Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, No. 9 MAP 2023, that determined the borough’s stormwater charge operated as a tax rather than a fee for a specific service.
West Chester brought the case against the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and West Chester University after the university refused to pay the charge. The university argued that the assessment was legally a tax and that it was immune from the levy as a Commonwealth entity.
The Supreme Court agreed that the charge was a tax from which the university was immune, affirming the Commonwealth Court’s ruling in the dispute.
The decision had consequences beyond the university’s bill. West Chester stopped collecting the Stream Protection Fee boroughwide, eliminating a revenue source officials had expected to generate roughly $1.2 million annually.
Borough budget documents had projected $1.2 million in Stream Protection Fee revenue for 2026, compared with $1.1 million budgeted for 2025.
The revenue loss does not eliminate West Chester’s stormwater infrastructure and regulatory responsibilities, leaving council to determine how those costs will be funded. Potential alternatives previously identified by borough officials include increases in property taxes or parking rates and reductions in stormwater spending.
Those funding decisions are expected to be handled separately during deliberations over the 2027 budget rather than through the repeal ordinance.
Council’s Sept. 16 voting session and the Stream Protection Fee hearing are both scheduled for 6:30 p.m. at the borough’s municipal building.
Council may enact the repeal after the public hearing. The proposed agenda confirms the hearing but does not list replacement stormwater funding among the actions before council that evening.
The official ordinance and meeting packet are available at https://westchesterpa.portal.civicclerk.com/event/5871/files/agenda/13031, while the borough’s hearing calendar is available at https://west-chester.com/calendar.aspx?EID=4410.
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