Stormwater rates bring out debate
Published 12:22 pm Thursday, December 11, 2008
By Dennis Box
The Courier-Herald
Bonney Lake's stormwater rates became a hot topic at the May 17 City Council workshop.
The city had commissioned a stormwater rate study from HDR/EES, a Bellevue consulting firm, and the firm presented three options for rate increases. The first would raise residential rates from the current $3.90 to $10.
The second would raise rates to $6 in 2005, $8 in 2006 and $10 in 2007.
The third option would raise rates to $5 in 2005 and $1 each year after until reaching $10 in 2010.
The HDR/EES study states the increase in rates is needed to cover funding of capital projects and "on-going maintenance."
Mayor Bob Young said the Clean Water Act is the driving force behind the stormwater rate study.
"There is a federal and state mandate that says we must show what we are doing about stormwater management," Young said. "Every city is struggling with this. We all want clean streams. The consultants looked at what we have to do."
The Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, or Clean Water Act, was passed in 1972. The act addresses pollutants discharged into streams and rivers.
Prior to the 1990s the act focused principally on municipal sewage plants and industrial waste. During the '90s, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency began using the act to regulate stormwater runoff.
"With new regulations, we need a reasonable way to create revenue to address the stormwater issues in the city," Public Works Director Dan Grigsby said. "We need to decide how to allocate rates fairly so everyone pays their fair share."
Grigsby said the courts have ruled a rate system based on the amount of impervious surface at a site is the fairest way.
Examples of impervious surfaces are roofs, parking lots and paved areas.
While city residents pay $3.90 per month, a business pays $19.50 regardless of the amount of impervious surface on the site.
The city would like the commercial rate based on the amount of impervious surface. A business would be eligible for a 50 percent reduction in rates if stormwater is managed on site with detention or retention ponds.
The City Council will make the final decision on a rate change. The council appears willing to look at a commercial rate structure based on impervious surface area, but a residential increase was met with resistance.
"I'm not supporting an increase in rates on any residential customer," Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman said. "I don't think residents should have to pay extra for essential services the city should provide."
Swatman, along with councilmen Jim Rackley and Neil Johnson, said at the workshop they would support taking money from the general fund for capital improvements rather than raising residential rates.
"The council has the right to do that," Young said. "My concern is they will spend us bankrupt. There are major projects the council wants to fund. We have to watch it down the road. My job is to keep us out of trouble."
Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@cmg-northwest2.go-vip.net/courierherald.
