West Chester Borough's Stormwater Bill Is Moving From Your Driveway to Your Assessment

"No it is a fee. All properties in the Borough are assessed the fee including tax-exempt properties. The fee is based on the amount of impervious area, not the assessed value or use of your property."

That was West Chester Borough answering the question "Is this a tax?" in its Stream Protection Fee FAQ, dated December 29, 2016. On April 30, 2026, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled that it was a tax. The borough stopped collecting the charge from every property owner that same day.

The storm pipes still cost money to maintain. The proposed 2027 borough budget moves that cost into the property tax millage. That changes who pays it, and the change matters to anyone comparing a borough address with one in the surrounding townships.

A fee measured in roof and pavement

The Stream Protection Fee took effect in 2016. It was billed by how much of a parcel water couldn't soak into, meaning roofs, driveways, patios and parking lots. Chapter 94A of the borough code defined one base unit as 1,000 square feet of impervious surface and sorted properties into six tiers. Under Resolution No. 11-2016, Borough Council set the base fee at $6.70 per month for each 1,000 square feet of impervious cover.

At that 2016 rate, the tiers worked out like this:

Owners got an annual bill. They could pay quarterly or take a 2% discount for paying in full within 30 days. The money went into a dedicated stormwater fund that paid for program administration, construction and maintenance of the system, and debt service on stormwater capital projects. According to MyChesCo, the borough had projected $1.2 million in fee revenue for 2026, up from $1.1 million budgeted for 2025.

The design rule that mattered was this one: a property's assessed value had no effect on its bill. A rowhouse with a small footprint landed in a low tier no matter what it was worth. A broad paved lot landed in a high tier no matter what it was assessed at. And the county seat's large tax-exempt owners got a bill like everyone else.

Why the court called it a tax

West Chester University didn't pay. The borough invoiced the Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education and the university for 2017, 2018 and 2019, and both refused, arguing that the charge was a tax and that they were immune from it as Commonwealth entities. The borough sued in Commonwealth Court. On January 4, 2023, that court ruled for the university system and held that the charge was a tax, not a fee or a special assessment.

The borough appealed. The Pennsylvania Supreme Court heard argument on September 11, 2024, and affirmed the ruling on April 30, 2026, in Borough of West Chester v. Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education. The justices reasoned that managing stormwater is a public duty that serves the whole community. They found it was not a voluntary service sold to individual customers, and pointed to the borough's regulatory obligations and the general public benefit of the work.

That reasoning reached well beyond the university's unpaid invoices. A charge the court treats as a tax can't stand as a fee for anyone. The borough stopped collecting it from all owners, and at a September 16, 2026 public hearing, Borough Council took up an ordinance repealing Chapter 94A in its entirety.

The pipes didn't go anywhere

Ending the fee left the stormwater system in place, along with the borough's legal duty to maintain it. MyChesCo reported that borough officials had earlier listed property tax increases, higher parking rates and stormwater spending cuts as possible ways to cover the gap, and that the decision would be made in the 2027 budget.

The proposal arrived quickly. As the West Chester Chronicle reported, Borough Manager Sean Metrick presented the proposed 2027 budget at council's September 15 work session. It includes a 1.02-mill increase, for a total of 9.11 mills, to replace roughly $1.2 million in lost fee revenue. That money would maintain 1,500 inlets, 339 junctions and 23 miles of pipe. Working backward, the current rate would be 8.09 mills.

As of this writing, that figure is a proposal. Council hasn't adopted a 2027 budget, and the final millage could still change.

Who carries the cost under millage

The fee spread the stormwater cost across every parcel with pavement on it. A millage spreads it across taxable assessed value and nothing else. In a county seat with a state university, that difference is large.

The borough's 2025 financial statements list 161 tax-exempt properties in the borough, valued at $434,022,010. Taxable property carried an initial certified valuation of $778,485,984 for 2025. Chester County government owns the largest share of the exempt property, followed by West Chester University, Chester County Hospital and the West Chester Area School District. Put those two figures together and exempt property makes up about 36% of the borough's combined valuation. That is a share of value, not of parcel count.

The same statements show that residential properties paid 61.52% of the borough's real estate tax in 2025. Commercial properties paid 37.64%, industrial 0.57% and vacant land 0.27%.

So moving to millage shifts the stormwater cost in three ways:

• Exempt property drops out entirely. The 2016 fee billed every property, tax-exempt owners included. The borough's own financial statements count those 161 exempt properties outside its taxable valuation, so a millage increase doesn't apply to them.
• Pavement stops mattering and value starts. A heavily paved commercial lot with a modest assessment pays less of the stormwater cost than it did under the tiers. A well-kept home with a small footprint and a high assessment pays more.
• Residential owners carry the larger share. If the millage passes as proposed, the stormwater cost will roughly follow the existing tax split, in which homes paid about three of every five tax dollars in 2025.

The math is still unsettled. Applied to the 2025 taxable base, 1.02 mills raises about $794,000, well short of the $1.2 million the fee brought in. The 2027 tax base and the program's scope may not match those 2025 figures. The adopted budget, when it comes, is the number that counts.

Running the numbers on a specific property

Whether you own in the borough or are weighing an offer there, the comparison takes a few minutes:

1. Find the assessed value. It's on the Chester County tax record. It is a different number from market value or list price.
2. Apply the proposed increase. One mill is $1 per $1,000 of assessed value, so 1.02 mills adds $1.02 per $1,000. As a hypothetical, a property assessed at $200,000 would owe about $204 more a year in borough tax.
3. Estimate the old fee. Match the property's roof, driveway and patio area to the tier table above. That shows roughly what it would have paid at the 2016 base rate. The rate in later years may have differed.
4. Compare the two. The gap between step 2 and step 3 shows whether a property comes out ahead or behind. Under millage, a higher assessment on a modest footprint is what pushes a property's share of the stormwater cost up.

What this changes in a borough-versus-township comparison

Buyers who compare West Chester Borough with West Goshen, East Bradford or Westtown usually focus on walkability, lot size and housing stock, as covered in our borough versus township guide. Carrying cost belongs in that comparison too, and for borough addresses it's in flux. A 2025 tax bill for a borough home may have come with a separate stormwater charge. A 2027 bill may have no separate charge but a higher millage. Read side by side, those two bills could make the house look cheaper or more expensive than it is.

Sellers should expect informed buyers to ask about this. The clearest answer to a question about taxes on a borough listing is the current assessment, the 2026 millage, the proposed 2027 increase, and a plain statement that the stormwater fee is gone and the replacement hasn't been adopted. You can find more context for borough owners on our West Chester neighborhood page and our seller resources.

This post is general information, not tax, legal or financial advice. Please confirm how the 2027 budget affects your own property with the borough, the county assessment office or your tax advisor.

If you own in the borough and want to know how a higher millage might affect your sale price and carrying-cost numbers next year, The John Bell Team can put together a valuation that accounts for the proposed tax change. Request Your Free Home Valuation and we'll walk you through the numbers on your property.