Crown Point Council Increases Business Stormwater Fees

The Crown Point City Council amended an ordinance that will mean an increase in stormwater fees charged to many city businesses.

The revised ordinance, approved unanimously by the council,  will only affect the city’s commercial properties and not residential properties.

“This does not affect the single-family and multi-family stormwater rates,” Crown Point Mayor Pete Land said at the meeting on Monday.

The monthly stormwater utility user fee for all single-family residential properties within the city will remain at $6, while the multi-family rate will remain at $12, Land said.

Also unchanged, under the revised rates, is the $12 monthly user fee paid for all unimproved property.

Commercial properties, previously charged a flat $12 monthly rate, will now pay a monthly user fee calculated on the properties’ individually measured area divided by one equivalent residential unit or ERU, which the business occupies.

The ordinance defines an ERU as a 0.31-acre area, a figure meant to represent the average size of a Crown Point residential lot.

The minimum rate calculated under this revision is $12.

The maximum monthly stormwater user fee shall be $125, with the maximum monthly stormwater user fee increasing to $250 on Jan. 1, 2027, according to the amended ordinance.

City officials earlier this year approved a multi-phase water and sewer rate increase, driven in part by an increase in the wholesale water rates charged to the city by Indiana American Water, Land said at that time.

Under the new water utility ordinance, passed by the city council in March, rates were projected to increase by 19% over a two-year period, with the city absorbing the additional Indiana American Water increase of 36.7%, Land said.

Water rate increases, according to the ordinance, were as follows: residential customers who use 1,500 gallons a month would see their total bill go up $3.71 from $19.53 to $23.24. Customers who use 5,000 gallons per month would see their total bill go up $11.58 a month, from $61.01 to $72.59.

Proposed hikes were to be billed into three phases: Phase 1: upon adoption of the ordinance this past March; Phase 2: Aug. 1, 2025; and Phase 3: Aug. 1, 2026.

The council in March also approved increases for city sewer rates.

The sewer rate per 1,000 gallons went from $11.07 to $16.71, creating an increase of $5.64 in Phase 1.

That change was reflected on the bill customers received at the beginning of May for March usage, Land said.

On Jan. 1, 2026, the rate per 1,000 gallons for sewer rate changes will go from $16.71 to $21.06, for an increase of $4.35 per 1,000 gallons.

This change, as part of Phase 2, will be reflected on the bill of customers beginning March 2026 for January’s usage.

Deborah Laverty is a freelance reporter for the Post-Tribune.