By Dennis Box-The Courier-Herald

The new year will bring a flood of resolutions and an increase in the cost of rain in Bonney Lake.

The City Council voted 6-1 Nov. 14 to increase the stormwater utility rate from $4 to $6 per month effective Jan. 1 with increases of $2 each year through 2011 when the price jump to $14 each month.

All council members voted for the rate increase except Deputy Mayor Dan Swatman.

&#8220What a concept,” Swatman said. &#8220We are going to bill you for how much rain falls on your land.”

Swatman dissented because he considers it a utility residents have no control over.

&#8220I don't mind paying for a utility that is delivered, but this not,” Swatman said. &#8220With water and electricity you can control it. Take a shorter shower or turn the heat down. You can't turn off the rain.”

Council members began considering stormwater utility rates in 2004 when the Bellevue consulting firm HDR/EES reported current rates did not fund the necessary upgrades to the city's storm water system.

At one time, the city had charged a flat rate for commercial and residential. In 2005 the council passed an ordinance charging single-family residences about $4 and commercial properties nearly $20.

Also in 2005 the city rang up a system development charge for new construction, both residential and commercial. A new home is billed $328 and the commercial rate for new construction is based on the amount of impervious surface. A business can receive up to a 50 percent reduction in monthly charges if 100 percent of its surface water goes into a detention/infiltration pond. The percentage of savings falls as the percentage of water being directed into a pond decreases.

At their Nov. 14 meeting, members decided that next year they will consider whether single family homeowners should be given a break if all or part of the storm water on their property is collected.

Additionally, the council agreed to look at the entire storm water system.

&#8220We have to maintain the system we have and retrofit measures that should have been done years ago,” Councilman Dave King said. &#8220We have ditches along roads that have been filled in and it degrades the road when water runs along it. We have a lot of challenges ahead of us.”

The city's stormwater program is part of a federal ruling from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Stormwater and waste management programs began with the Federal Water Pollution Control Act Amendments, or Clean Water Act, which was passed in 1972 in response to the increased problem of pollution in streams and rivers.

Officials began regulating municipal sewage plants and industrial waste in the 1970s using the Clean Water Act.

In the 1990s the EPA began applying the act's standards to municipal storm water systems. The agencies ruled in 1999 that communities of a certain size must submit permit applications describing how their program meets the EPA requirements.

Those requirements are an unfunded mandate from the federal government which, according to the agency's figures in 1999, could cost state, local and tribal governments $100 million in one year.

&#8220Cities have really been struggling with the Clean Water Act's phase two unfunded mandate,” King said. &#8220It's like traffic. We have billions of dollars in traffic improvements, but no one wants to pay for it.”

Dennis Box can be reached at dbox@courierherald.com.

The city's current stormwater system includes:

€ 23 miles of stormwater pipe;

€ 1,222 catch basins;

€ 43 curb inlets;

€ 188 manholes;

€ 36 detention/retention /infiltration ponds and

€ 55 dry wells.

Monthly stormwater rates around the area are:

€ Auburn $10.90;

€ Puyallup $9.85;

€ Sumner $8.64;

€ Enumclaw, no stormwater charge