Lee's Summit committee weighs dedicated stormwater utility with $5 million baseline option

City engineer George Binger told the Lee's Summit Public Works Committee on May 12 that staff and a citizen advisory group are pushing the city to decide whether it should create a dedicated stormwater utility and what level of service that utility would provide. "That cost in 2022 is 4,700,000.0. Adjusted for inflation, that's close to 5,000,000 per year for this level of service," Binger said, referring to a staffing and operations package developed with the stormwater advisory committee.

The discussion focused on what the city should require from developers versus what the city would maintain, how aggressive inspections should be for private retention and detention basins, and whether the city should move from a reactive "sinkhole" response to a preventive maintenance model. Binger said the baseline package would fund two full-time field crews (a five-person crew plus supervisor for each),…