When Sam Nestingen and Tyler Dill bought a small pizzeria in the Longfellow community of Minneapolis nearly three years ago, they expected to concentrate on making pizza. But along the way they've learned way more about sewer hookup charges than they ever expected.

Their crash course came earlier this year when they upgraded Parkway Pizza's city business license to include beer. Under city procedures, that triggered a review of how much they owe for sewer charges imposed through the city by the Metropolitan Council.

The city found that, due to previous seating expansions, the business rated at 29 seats owed $8,000. An appeal cut that amount to $7,350, and Parkway Pizza got a four-month extension on the due date to Oct. 16. But the fee still hurts.

"It's not going to put us out of business, but it's a large part of our annual business," Nestingen said. "I don't make anything. You don't when you start out in this business."

Other small businesses across the metro area have felt that pinch, most recently restaurants like the pizzeria that have outdoor seating that can trigger additional sewer charges. Outdoor seating long has been covered by sewer charges, but more attention is being paid to the issue now because of more outdoor seating prompted by smoking bans, and also because of better enforcement by cities, according to council officials.

Restaurateurs and city officials from Apple Valley to Coon Rapids have protested Met Council sewer charges for outdoor seating, arguing that sidewalks and patios are seasonal, empty during wet weather, and that the additional outdoor seating doesn't necessarily add diners or drinkers.

Now businesses may get some relief.

The Met Council this week will consider a recommendation that it slash the hookup fee by 75 percent for outdoor spaces exposed to rain beginning Oct. 1. That might help Parkway Pizza with its six outdoor tables.

Jason Willett, the council's finance manager for sewage matters, said the change was recommended because outdoor seating doesn't contribute much to sewage flow during the heavy rains that put the most demand on the capacity of metro sewage treatment facilities.

Marcos Gomez, who owns several restaurants, deferred outdoor seating plans in Apple Valley and Shakopee until next summer because of the hookup costs. The extra metro sewer hookup fee made up $6,000 of the $16,000 in municipally imposed charges he faced for his planned 24-seat outdoor area in Shakopee.

"We've got to get the money for it," Gomez said.

Bruce Nordquist, Apple Valley's community development director, suggested to metro officials that outdoor seating for restaurants is comparable to a renter eating on an apartment balcony.

Neither Nestingen, 26, nor Dill, 25, was born when the sewer hookup charges were first imposed in 1973. Metro officials use them to finance the cost of extra capacity for future development that's built into Met Council sewage plants and its large pipes that feed them from local sewer systems. Unlike new homes, which pay the fee once, businesses can be nicked both initially and for expansions.

Steve Brandt • 612-673-4438