How much will business property owners pay? How will their rate be determined?
Non-residential property owners will pay based on the amount of hard surface or impervious area on their properties. The impervious area for all non-residential properties in the City was measured using aerial photography and a computer mapping software program.

The residential rate will be used in the calculation for non-residential properties. In the calculation, the flat residential rate equals one “equivalent residential unit” or ERU. One ERU=2,800 sq. feet of hard surface (impervious) area.

Non-residential property owners will be charged based on the number of ERUs of hard surface on their property. For example, if a commercial property has three times as much hard surface area as the average residence (8,400 sq. feet or 3 ERUs), its stormwater charge would be three times the residential rate per month. The rate per ERU that has been approved by City Council is: $2.95 per month per ERU.

Show All Answers

1. What is impervious area?
2. How did you measure the impervious area for my property?
3. What can I do to measure the impervious area myself?
4. I am not satisfied with the impervious area measurement for my property. What can I do?
5. What is a stormwater utility?
6. Why does the City of Greenville need a stormwater utility?
7. Why does the City need more money to fix the stormwater system?
8. Isn’t flooding in Greenville just a problem in certain areas of the City?
9. Will I get a separate bill for stormwater?
10. Will tax-exempt, non-profit organizations like schools, churches and hospitals be charged for stormwater?
11. Why can’t we just use existing sewer money to cover stormwater costs?
12. How much will it cost?
13. I live in an apartment. Will I have to pay?
14. How much will business property owners pay? How will their rate be determined?
15. Why is the amount of hard surface area used to calculate the rates?
16. Is there anything that non-residential property owners can do to reduce their bill?
17. When will I know how much my bill will be?
18. What if I don’t agree with the City’s calculation of the amount of hard surface area I have on my property?
19. When will rates go up?
20. Isn’t this just another tax?
21. I don’t remember voting on this tax. How can the city do this without a vote?
22. How can we be sure that the money raised will be used for stormwater improvements and not diverted to other projects by the city?
23. Won’t this utility create a whole new government bureaucracy?
24. How much money does the city expect the stormwater utility to collect?
25. How will the money collected for the stormwater utility be used?
26. How soon can we expect to see results like reduced flooding?
27. What issues will be addressed first when the stormwater utility is implemented?
28. How does stormwater affect the environment?
29. How will the new utility help the environment?
30. What happens if the City fails to meet the new requirements and regulations of the EPA?