Hampton council debates $1 stormwater-fee increase versus drawing down fund balance

City staff presented three scenarios for the stormwater fee and the fiscal tradeoffs that affect both short‑term customer bills and long‑term rates. Jason Mitchell, stormwater program lead, said Hampton’s stormwater system is aging — much of it is more than 40 years old — and that neighborhoods across the city are experiencing flooding that the proposed projects are designed to address.

Mitchell presented Scenario A (raise the stormwater fee $1 in FY22, with planned subsequent adjustments), Scenario B (raise 50¢ in FY22 while using a larger portion of fund balance, followed by larger increases later), and Scenario C (defer FY22 increases and draw down fund balance, leading to an approximate $2 jump in FY23). Mitchell said doing nothing would exhaust the fund balance by mid‑FY23 and that the models assume a 90‑day cash reserve standard. "Our initial recommendation and still our recommendation is to use our fund balance to lessen the fee increase to customers in fiscal year 22," Mitchell said, then explained that staff recommended smoothing an eventual $1 increase across years to avoid large single‑year jumps.

Council members debated affordability for households still recovering from the pandemic versus the urgency of fixing flooding problems. Several members, including Councilwoman (speaker 10), argued in favor of the $1 increase, noting it amounts to $12 per year. Others, including Vice Mayor Gray and Councilman Brown, suggested using fund balance or a half‑dollar increase to reduce immediate pressure on residents. Mitchell said a 50¢ increase could still fund roughly 10–12 projects but would reduce the scope of work compared with the $1 plan. The discussion closed with staff offering to model additional scenarios to reflect council preferences before the next vote.