ORANGE — Developers planning to build residential subdivisions and commercial projects in Orange County soon will be subject to tighter post-construction controls to assure they comply with new stormwater permit requirements for runoffs that could reach the Neches and Sabine river systems.

Rick Masters, a senior environmental specialist from the Beaumont engineering firm Carroll & Blackman Inc., was on hand at Monday's Orange County Commissioners Court meeting to give a special presentation about four post-construction, non-structural, mandatory controls designed to prevent trash, “floatables,” petroleum products and other non-stormwater discharges from entering municipal storm sewer systems.

“We also aim to insure the implementation of sweeping and other maintenance programs to minimize the discharge of sediment – such as dirt, sand or clay,” Masters said. “Developers also must maintain vegetation to minimize erosion and sediments from getting into municipal storm sewer system.”

The engineering company started the process by looking at what government bodies are responsible for reviewing development plans, Masters said.

“Cities and the county obviously review plans. The drainage districts also do that in looking at flood control,” he said. “So, we decided those were good places to also implement these controls. There are a number of ways we can address stormwater runoff from new projects.”

Masters said a flow chart is used to determine where stormwater runoff will go from a particular property.

“We want to know if a proposed project will discharge that water upstream of, or directly into a regional detention pond,” he said. “That's very important if a project has more than one acre that has new pavement, area under a roof or other surfaces that do not allow stormwater infiltration.”

During Monday's meeting, the commissioners also received more information that will influence their up-coming decisions about the county's FY2013 budget and the property tax rate they will set for the coming year.

County Tax Assessor-Collector Linda Gunstream provided a report on the 2012 effective and rollback tax rates, which give the commissioners more insight into the county's financial status going into September's budget and tax rate decisions.

The 2012 effective tax rate is .50436 per $100 of valuation, while the rollback rate is .55040 per $100 of valuation.

The 2011 effective tax rate was slightly higher at .52990.

County Judge Carl Thibodeaux said, “The effective tax rate is based on the amount of money collected last year in taxes. We won't be adopting a tax rate for 2013 until mid-September, at the same time we approve the budget.”

Thibodeaux said the “perfect scenario” is to adopt the effective rate.

“That means that you are not raising taxes. You are asking for exactly the amount of taxes that were collected the previous year. That's what everybody shoots for, but it doesn't happen very often,” he said. “Expenses go up, and inflation also figures into the decisions.”

The 2013 budget county leaders are working on right now is based on the 2011 tax rate, Thibodeaux said. “However, at this point we're about $1.4 million short of what we need.”

The effect on property owners depends on if their appraisals went up, Thibodeaux said.

“I've been here 18 years, and I've made the same statement every year and I'm not backing down,” he said. “If the county needs a tax increase, I will ask for it. If the county doesn't need an increase, I will not ask for one. I'm going to do what's best for the county, not what might be best for me politically.”

Orange County Commissioners Court meets at 2 p.m. every Monday in the County Administration Building, 123 South St. in Orange.