The Ohio Supreme Court has upheld the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District’s (NEORSD) stormwater management program, and the authority of the District to adopt fees to run the program.

“This is a great victory for the region,” said NEORSD Board of Trustees President Darnell Brown on the agency’s blog. “Stormwater is causing damage and inter-community flooding problems, and we can now tackle this growing problem with a regional solution.

The Regional Stormwater Management Program is designed to address flooding, erosion and water quality issues throughout Northeast Ohio.

Five years ago, eight suburbs challenged the District’s right to charge a fee for stormwater maintenance. An appellate court put the fee on hold in 2013.

NEORSD plans to ask a Cuyahoga County court to release about $20 million being held in escrow, which had been generated by the agency’s stormwater management program while it was briefly active from January to September 2013, reports ideastream.com.

Source: NEORSD, ideastream.com