In 2016, the Northeast Ohio Regional Sewer District (NEORSD) faced a crisis of success. After a three-year legal battle, the Ohio Supreme Court affirmed the District’s authority to charge stormwater fees—but the ruling came with a strict condition. The District had just six months to reimplement billing for 400,000 accounts across the Cleveland metropolitan area. The technical hurdle was immense: fees were based on impervious surface area (parcel data), not water usage, and bills had to be issued through a third-party provider (Cleveland Water Department). Failure to launch by July 2016 meant forfeiting millions in critical revenue.
Raftelis mobilized a cross-functional team to deliver an integrated policy, financial, and technical solution within the aggressive six-month window.
- Rapid application development (SWFT): We built the Stormwater Fee Toolset (SWFT), a custom web-based application that serves as the "brain" of the stormwater utility. SWFT ingests GIS parcel data to calculate fees based on impervious area, managing the complex relationship between physical properties and utility accounts.
- Complex systems integration: Designed for integration from the ground up, SWFT interfaces with Cleveland Water’s Oracle CC&B system to synchronize billing data, the District's GIS system for parcel data, Oracle E-Business for financial information, Salesforce for inquiry tracking, and various other on-premise systems to create a unified operational environment.
- Policy and financial calibration: In parallel with software development, we updated the stormwater financial plan and cost allocation models, ensuring the new fee structure was legally defensible and financially sustainable upon launch.
Launching on time, the system instantly restored a vital funding stream for regional stormwater management.
- 100% on-time launch: Met the court-mandated deadline, securing revenue continuity for the District’s environmental programs.
- Massive scale: The system successfully manages billing data for approximately 400,000 accounts, processing complex spatial data updates weekly.
- Operational efficiency: Automated synchronization between NEORSD and the third-party biller eliminated the need for manual data exchange, reducing administrative overhead and error rates.
- Legal defensibility: The robust link between policy design and software logic helped the District successfully defend its authority to collect fees.
Transitioning from rapid implementation to long-term stewardship, Raftelis continues to partner with NEORSD to modernize the system. We are currently upgrading SWFT to a modern Model-View-Controller (MVC) framework to enhance security and user experience. This evolution ensures that the District’s billing infrastructure remains as resilient as the physical stormwater infrastructure it funds, securing long-term financial stability for the region.
