Lynn Haven hears options to raise stormwater revenue, reconfigure tiers to fund $6.4M capital plan

City officials and outside consultants presented detailed options on Jan. 28 for restructuring Lynn Haven’s stormwater assessment and raising revenue to fund a multi-year capital plan.

The presentation, led by Peter Napoli of Santa Consulting and Kyle Stevens, reviewed the city’s stormwater revenue history, current service tiers and a five-year capital program. Napoli said the assessment was moved from a monthly utility fee to an annual property-tax assessment in 2022 and noted the fund’s unaudited beginning balance for 2025 is approximately negative $676,000. He and Stevens laid out scenarios that would allow the stormwater fund to pay operations and capital without transfers from other enterprise funds.

The consultants and staff described three broad approaches: keep current rates (which would require deferring projects and leave the fund in deficit); a “rip the band‑aid” one‑time large increase to reach full funding quickly (a roughly 70% revenue increase in the consultant’s example); or a smaller one‑time increase (about 50%) combined with a proposed annual surtax contribution (shown in the analysis as roughly $300,000 per year) to reduce the needed rate increase. The capital program incorporated in the plan totaled about $6,400,000 over five years, with highlighted projects including Vermont Avenue lining ($750,000 in 2026), East 10th Street drainage improvements ($1,250,000 in 2028) and a first year of a west‑side outfall project ($800,000). The presentation also listed ongoing costs such as outfall cleaning (~$250,000 per year) and equipment/vehicle renewal and replacement (combined items noted at about $1,700,000 within the plan). Napoli and Stevens emphasized that, under current rates, the assessment covers operations but not major infrastructure work.

Commissioners and staff pressed for clarity on distributional impacts. Kyle Stevens explained the consultants’ recommended reconfiguration from the current structure to a calibrated equivalent residential unit (ERU) system and offered 3‑, 4‑ and 5‑tier options to better align charges with measured impervious area. Stevens said the reconfiguration would concentrate more properties into a balanced middle tier (the median ERU), reduce the very large first tier that currently contains roughly half of single‑family parcels, and create smaller top tiers to capture very large residential footprints. Under the models shown, the median residential assessment would rise from the current $169 to roughly $214 in one of the 50% revenue scenarios; lower‑impervious properties would see the largest percentage increases because they had previously been grouped in a broad low tier.

Commissioner Sam Peebles praised the report: “Excellent, excellent report. Tons of data, very well done.” Several commissioners said they wanted more time to review the data and to hear from residents who would see substantially larger increases. Commissioner Vandegrift asked for copies of the full data package and said a 70% one‑time increase would be “a hard one to sell” to the public; Commissioner Pernod and others requested the exact count of parcels that would double under certain scenarios. City staff reminded the commission that the final adoption schedule allows time for further review and public hearings; the consultants noted a final adoption date for rates would come in mid‑September during the tax‑roll schedule if the commission gives direction.

City staff also stressed the operational need for reserves. Chris Lightfoot said the department currently carries little reserve and cited a recent emergency repair at the Merrick entrance that cost about $30,000; without reserves the city would need to borrow from another fund to respond to significant stormwater failures. That operational risk framed much of the commission’s discussion about how quickly to build reserve levels versus the scale and timing of rate increases.

The meeting ended with commissioners signaling they had enough information to continue discussions. Several said they favored recalibrating tiers; some expressed openness to the 50% scenario paired with surtax support and to a 5‑tier structure that better matches impervious areas, while others urged more public outreach before choosing a path.

Follow‑up: staff and consultants will provide the full data package and return with refined scenarios and parcel counts as the commission moves toward budget season and potential rate adoption.