A Chesterfield man has filed suit against the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District seeking to cease a new monthly stormwater-service fee and require the sewer district to refund money already collected from that fee.

In his suit against MSD, William Zweig states that the new monthly stormwater fee based on the square footage of a property owner’s impervious property violates the Missouri Constitution’s Hancock Amendment because the district imposed it without voter approval.

Zweig’s lawsuit also seeks permission from St. Louis County Circuit Court to make it into a class-action lawsuit for all district customers.

Before March 1, stormwater services were funded by a 24-cent monthly charge on each MSD bill and through a variety of property taxes.

MSD now calculates stormwater charges based on the amount of impervious area on each customer’s property.

The new stormwater charge is 12 cents per 100 square feet of impervious area. Impervious property includes non-absorbent property like driveways, roofs, garages and parking lots.

District officials estimate that the average single-family residential customer will pay roughly $3 per month for stormwater service.

The Board of Trustees voted Aug. 14 to hire Kohn, Shands, Elbert, Gianoulakis & Giljum of St. Louis to defend the district against Zweig’s lawsuit.