BATON ROUGE - Residents in East Baton Rouge Parish could eventually have to pay a new fee if the Metro Council votes Wednesday to create a new Stormwater Public Utility District.

The fee would be decided at a later time and would require a separate vote. The goal would be to reduce flood risks in the city-parish.

The new taxpayer-funded district would “allow the Department of Environmental Services to better plan, construct, acquire, extend, finance, improve, operate and maintain a Municipal Separate Stormwater Sewer System … on behalf of the city-parish,” according to a memo to the Metro Council.

The meeting begins at 4 p.m. Wednesday.