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Council approves 2.4% stormwater fee increase tied to CPI; revenues expected near $4 million
Summary
The council approved a 2.4% increase to the community flood and storm protection fee for FY 2025–26, a CPI-linked adjustment that will modestly raise residential monthly fees and help move revenue toward stormwater infrastructure planning and projects.
San Mateo — The City Council approved a 2.4% increase to the community flood and storm protection fee for fiscal year 2025–26 on June 16.
Engineering manager Jimmy Voe said the fee adjustment follows the formula in the fee authorization: annual CPI adjustments for the San Francisco Bay Area subject to a 3% cap. Because the CPI change was 2.4% for the period used, the city will apply that increase to stormwater fees this year. Voe noted the ordinance allows “banking” unused CPI in years when the CPI rise is above 3%, but there was no such banking requested for this adjustment.
Voe reported the program’s first-year revenue came in close to projections — about $3.9 million — after staff corrected a small number of parcel-rate errors and issued refunds. With the 2.4% adjustment the city expects revenue in the coming year to be closer to the originally modeled $4.05 million.
The residential median parcel fee will rise from $8.00 to about $8.19 per month under the 2.4% change, Voe said; roughly 47% of parcels fall into the residential median category. He told the council staff will continue work on the Storm Drain Master Plan and project-level scoping; staff and council have previously identified multiple high-cost stormwater and flood projects citywide.
The council approved the fee increase 5–0.
What’s next: Staff will continue the Storm Drain Master Plan work and pursue grant and project funding to support planned infrastructure investments.
