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Council hears plan to raise monthly stormwater fee from $4 to $6 to fund storm-drain projects
Summary
City staff proposed raising the monthly stormwater fee from $4 to $6 to generate about $575,000 a year for capital and localized storm-drain repairs and to repay an ~$835,000 interfund transfer; council opened and closed a public hearing with no speakers and will consider final adoption in two weeks.
City staff presented a proposal on March 4 to increase the monthly stormwater fee from $4 to $6, citing inflation and an unfinished capital program that the fee would help fund.
Scott Harrington, speaking for finance/public works, said the stormwater fee had not been raised since its 2007 adoption and that the proposed $2 increase would generate an estimated $575,000 annually. “We’ve completed the original projects in the master plan,” Harrington said, adding that the increase would fund new capital work, localized repairs and accelerate repayment of a roughly $835,000 fund transfer from the general fund.
Harrington outlined a multi-year project list estimated at about $3.1 million in needs and said the plan would devote an additional $338,000 to capital projects in fiscal 2026–27 while also funding maintenance activities such as street sweeping and system cleaning. He told the council the city would not implement a larger immediate increase so as to moderate impacts on residents, but said the current plan could be extended if a catastrophic issue arose.
The council opened a public hearing on the fee; no members of the public offered comment and the hearing was closed. Staff said they will return the fee ordinance for adoption in two weeks and proposed an implementation date of April 1. The council asked staff to provide a prioritized list of the highest-priority projects that would be addressed in the first years after adoption.
If adopted as proposed, the increase would move the stormwater fee from $4 to $6 per month on utility bills and is projected by staff to improve the storm-drain fund’s viability and pay down the outstanding interfund balance more quickly.
