The Georgetown City Council approved an amendment to the stormwater drainage ordinance Jan. 10 that will increase the monthly stormwater drainage fee by 50 cents. The change will go into effect March 1 and increase the fee from $4.25 to $4.75.

The fee is part of the monthly stormwater drainage assessment on utility bills and pays for construction and maintenance of drainage projects such as the expanded culverts for Smith Branch under Maple Street.

The ordinance was also changed to allow billing of the stormwater fee to individual apartment units. The current ordinance assesses multifamily complexes at the commercial rate. Other changes are to the billing process for commercial accounts and would provide a discount to commercial property in the city that does not drain into the city's service area, according to the release.