Arlington property owners next year likely will have a number of new ways to claim rebates against the government’s new stormwater fees.
County staff have proposed two additions to existing opportunities to lessen the annual stormwater fee, which is based on a property’s impermeable surface and for residential properties averaged $258 this year.
Under the fee structure, those in single-family properties (attached or detached) can take voluntary steps that will shave up to 25% off the annual bill.
Steps that qualify include planting trees, using conservation-focused landscaping, creating a rain garden and installing a permeable driveway where water seeps through into the ground rather than runs off into the stormwater network.
County officials acknowledge the rebate often is more a thank-you than a financial incentive to make the changes necessary, but helps to keep awareness of stormwater initiatives alive.
And for a county government with an annual budget approaching $1.7 billion, any growth in the $113,000 cost of the rebates next year is unlikely to break the bank.
Among the draft changes to be acted on following a Dec. 14 County Board public hearing:
- The section allowing for rebates for those with permeable driveways will be expanded to allow credits for permeable patios and walkways.
- The section permitting credits for efforts to expand rainwater absorption will be expanded to include efforts made underground, such as dry wells or French drains, so long as those efforts don’t impact neighbors or run off onto sidewalks.
Once approved, the application period for 2025 credits will open and run through Feb. 28. County officials hope to get every applicant a response within 30 days.
The options proposed by staff do not go as far as some advocates want. They have pushed for a far wider credit system that would reward property owners with mature trees, who use organic lawn-care services or who volunteer on environmental initiatives, county staff said.
But the additions proposed for adoption are a next step after a “little rocky” but generally positive switch in how stormwater fees are collected, County Board member Susan Cunningham said.
“We needed to encourage every property owner or resident to do the best that they could,” she said at a Nov. 19 hearing setting the Dec. 14 action date.
Stormwater issues have been a key topic in Arlington since a summertime 2019 storm inundated the region and overwhelmed the county’s 10,000-inlet stormwater system and its 380 miles of pipes. The situation was so bad, a local state of emergency was declared.
“Our stormwater infrastructure is largely below ground and largely inadequate,” Cunningham said. “It was built during a time we thought we could control the universe.”
County officials between November 2023 and January 2024 took applications from those seeking rebates. Approximately 2,100 property owners met the standards, about 3% of the total number of properties in the county.
Until 2024, property owners saw a surcharge on their real-estate-tax bills to cover the county government’s cost of stormwater management. The cost was based on a property’s valuation, which didn’t always correlate with its environmental footprint.
Switching to a fee based on the portion of a lot covered by permeable surfaces — from homes and garages to driveways and patios — was seen as a way to line up the county government’s taxing powers with its environmental agenda.
Rainwater that enters the county’s storm-sewer system ultimately is discharged into the Potomac River, Four Mile Run and other county streams. Efforts to control the overall flow and avoid a repeat of 2019 have included creation of a massive retaining vault located under playing fields at Cardinal Elementary School in Westover.
In addition to the rebates for voluntary efforts, state law also has several categories of property where the county is required to give rebates under certain conditions. About 3,650 additional properties fall into that category, but that still leaves more than 58,000 parcels — 91% of the county total — where no credits were sought or received in 2024.
No changes are being sought by staff under the mandatory-rebates section of the county code.
