JEFF WILLHELM – jwillhelm@charlotteobserver.com

The large backyard at Ron and Helen Leigh's Mountain Island Lake home is mostly natural, with huge boulders and trees. But they also have a big driveway, which could cost them when they are assessed for stormwater runoff.

CHARLOTTE, N.C. -- Ron Leigh's concrete driveway winds down to a homemade preserve of sorts, where fallen trees decay naturally and fertilizer rarely touches the ground.

The makeup of his Mountain Island Lake property speaks to a running debate over local stormwater fees meant to battle flooding. Homeowners pay the fees according to square footage of impervious surfaces on their property, such as buildings or driveways. Having more impervious surfaces in a community increases the chances of flooding during heavy rains.

But Leigh and others say they should get a discount for the green spaces they maintain that help reduce that risk.

“It's just unfair, and then you're paying higher taxes on the house because you own more property,” said Leigh, who with his wife relies on Social Security for income. “We try to be frugal. We try to be careful with the environment.”

Mecklenburg Storm Water Services has proposed increasing the fee for most homeowners next fiscal year and shifting more of the burden to the largest homes. The smallest homes would see a slight decrease.

Charlotte homeowners with more than 5,000 square feet of impervious surfaces would see their annual fee increase from about $96 to more than $200.

Some local elected officials, as they examine budget proposals this month, are questioning the proposed fee increase.

Mayor Pat McCrory said Tuesday that there's enough money tucked in various places in the city budget to battle flooding in the short term without raising fees.

“We're in the deepest recession in our lifetime,” he said. “We may have to delay some things, including important things like stormwater.”

City Councilman Michael Barnes said he has received e-mails from constituents concerned that the lawns and trees they take care of wouldn't be factored into the new equation. “Bigger homes are typically on bigger lots with lawns,” he said. “There should be some accounting for that.”

Charlotte and county officials say they don't take the green spaces into account because it would take too long and too much money to tabulate and keep up with over time.

“It's been talked about, but technology-wise, we're not there yet. It might happen in the future, but it's not happening today,” said Joe Hecksher, business manager for Charlotte Storm Water Services.

He said homeowners who build retaining ponds or rain gardens or take other measures to capture significant amounts of rain can apply for credits. But just having a big lawn or a couple rain barrels probably wouldn't cut it, he said.

The about $57 million in stormwater fees currently collected each year pays for keeping up urban drainage systems and for flood control and waterway maintenance, such as clearing streams of fallen trees.

Some local officials and experts blame years of rampant development, an aging drainage system and more rain of late for an increase in flooding.

That was highlighted last week during rush hour when a flash flood during a downpour required more than 50 motorists to be rescued by firefighters.

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