McMinnville staff present phased stormwater utility fee plan to cover deferred maintenance and state mandates

McMinnville city staff and consultants told the City Council at a work session that the city should create a stormwater utility fee to pay for decades of deferred maintenance and growing regulatory costs, and offered a phased proposal that starts with about $2 million in annual revenue and moves to roughly $4 million after three years.

The recommendation matters because staff said much of the city’s storm system has not been maintained proactively and that mounting regulatory obligations — including likely expansion of the MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer) permit program — will require new, dedicated funding. The project advisory committee (the “pack”) unanimously recommended the council adopt a stormwater utility fee and a multi-year implementation plan.

City presentation and committee recommendation Geoff Hunsucker of Public Works presented the pack’s work and the staff recommendation. “The deferred maintenance is about 75% of the cost,” Hunsucker said, summing the rationale for a new fund. He and consultants from Raftelis and Galardi Rothstein Group explained that a utility model charges customers based on impervious surface — the main driver of stormwater runoff — rather than property value, a change staff called more equitable.

The pack’s written recommendation, adopted unanimously by the advisory group, asks the council to: adopt a stormwater utility fee; set a minimum annual revenue target of $2,000,000 in the first phase and an interim target of $4,000,000 after three years; build a three‑month operating reserve over the same three‑year timeline; and complete an updated stormwater master plan during the phasing period.

Rates, billing design and exemptions Staff and consultants described how they converted the revenue targets into per‑unit charges. The plan defines one equivalent residential unit (ERU) as 3,500 square feet of impervious area (the statistical median…