CRANBERRY TWP — The president of a township homeowners’ association believes the organization’s members are exempt from stormwater maintenance fees, and he believes a recent state Supreme Court decision backs him up.

On April 30, in Borough of West Chester v. Pennsylvania State System of Higher Education, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court ruled a municipal stormwater charge is a tax, not a fee and therefore not applicable to tax-exempt entities.

During Thursday’s township supervisors agenda preparation meeting, Stuart Hammerschmidt, president of the Autumn Hills homeowners’ association, claimed the HOA’s members were similarly exempt from the township’s stormwater maintenance fee because the association is a nonprofit.

Hammerschmidt said Autumn Hills, which consists of 177 houses within the township, already has stormwater retention ponds currently maintained under the HOA’s budget.

“As a tax, this fee is assessed against the HOA for no service at all,” he said.

Taxes levied against HOA members are a violation of law under the new ruling, Hammerschmidt claimed.

He further claimed the township owes association members refunds on previously collected money, which he estimated was $71,154 per member.

Alternatively, he suggested the township enter a voluntary contractual agreement to take over inspection and maintenance of the stormwater retention pond.

Hammerschmidt has opposed the stormwater fee since 2019, when it was first considered by the board He said he ran for his current role specifically to contest the fee and has long awaited the Supreme Court decision.

Dan Santoro, township manager, said Cranberry, as a township, may not fall in the set of circumstances that applied to the Supreme Court ruling, which involved West Chester, a borough.

“We are aware of the Supreme Court decision,” said Santoro. “We are evaluating what that means.”