Beginning with July wastewater payments, Warsaw city residents will see an additional fee on their bills. Warsaw Common Council unanimously passed a stormwater utility rate schedule during Monday night’s meeting.

As required by state and federal regulations, municipalities must manage storm water runoff that is often polluted and discharges into local rivers and streams without treatment. Municipalities with populations of 10,000 or more fall under the mandates and are labeled under the program, known as an MS4 Storm Water System.

The city has now adopted a base rate and variable rate fee schedule that will total a monthly fee of $2.95 for residential users. Non-residential real estate — schools, industries, etc. — will pay one base rate ($1.05) per sanitary utility tap and one variable rate ($1.90) for actual impervious surface areas based on calculated ERUs. In the case of Warsaw Community Schools, that will mean a monthly bill of about $1,800.

Theresa Sailor, stormwater coordinator, said rates will vary widely across the non-residential user spectrum because of the ERU calculations. Rates will vary from $40 a month up to the $5,400 range.

While much discussion in previous meetings centered around possible credits for those already treating storm water runoff — Lewis Salvage, for example, maintains its own system — and appeals for other users who may feel the impervious surface was incorrectly measured, the ordinance does not currently address those. Sailor asked the council to wait until next year to review any credits or appeals requests. “This year, we want to just work on getting the proper billing,” she explained.

The council agreed to wait until 2015 to begin discussions on potential credits.

In other business, the council heard regular reviews of tax abatements for Flexaust, Whitmet, Wildman and Dalton Foundry. Each of the businesses has honored their requirements so the council voted to continue their abatements.

The next meeting of the Warsaw Common Council is Monday, May 19.