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City plans for $40K in new fee
by Rick DeClue · News · April 03, 2014
The West Branch City Council and one member of the audience went back and forth on what the priorities of the city’s proposed Storm Water Utility fee would be at the March 24 council meeting.
Pete Tuttle, a 60-year resident of the city, lives at 403 Water Street. He said he has had storm water problems for as long as he can remember, and has seen the city try to deal with the issue many times. He said a hard rain causes a nearby creek to overflow, forcing him to wade through water to get to the road.
Tuttle said he was not arguing that his problem should be solved first; he just wanted to know if the city had a plan.
Based on estimated revenue of $40,000 from the proposed fee, the city budget starting July 1 includes the following projects:
• Storm sewer repairs to the Parkside Drive and Main Street intersection replacing two catch basins and the underlying pipes; estimated cost: $10,000
• Storm sewer installation on Orange Street from Fourth Street to Sixth Street replacing intakes and related pipe; estimated cost: $12,000
• General storm water catch basin repairs where they are, or soon will be, undermining streets; estimated cost: $5,000
• Storm sewer installation on Second Street from College Street to Green Street near Wapsi Park; estimated cost: $3,000
• Main Street Bridge storm water management best practices; estimated cost: $7,500
• Storm water best management practices rebate program; estimated cost: $2,500.
Future projects would be identified in the city’s capital improvement planning process, said Muckler.
The city intends to use the same approach as its recent roads study and the sanitary sewer review to set specific priorities.
The council reviewed three fee scenarios, agreeing on a schedule designed to treat apartments and West Branch Village as commercial properties, rather than multiple individual residences.
The Equivalent Residential Unit, which measures impervious ground, is based on an average 3,500 square feet for a single family in West Branch. It includes structures, driveways and any other hard surface that blocks rain absorption.
As proposed, fees for single-family residences and each half of two-unit multi-family structures will be $2 per unit per month, increasing to $3 over five years. Fees for larger multi-family properties, West Branch Village and all commercial properties will be $2 per ERU for the first 20 ERU’s, plus 75 cents per ERU thereafter.
The fees would be added to customers’ water bills.
The 15 largest users range from Procter and Gamble, at $677 per month or $8,124 per year, to Kum & Go, at $28 per month or $336 per year. All other smaller businesses will be less than $28 per month.
City Administrator Matt Muckler said the goal of the utility is to ensure property owners causing storm water runoff are paying into the utility based on the amount of impervious ground, or ground that does not absorb rainfall or snowmelt, as a result of development.
The funds raised by the utility can only be used to maintain, improve or add to the city’s storm water system. This could, theoretically, include using the funds for debt service to provide leverage for larger projects, said Muckler.
Mayor Mark Worrell and the council stressed that the funds are intended for projects and infrastructure. He said $40,000 is not really a lot of money, and that the utility needs to start small, where one dollar can have a big effect. Speaking for those paying the utility fees, Worrell said, “they would like to see some action.”
City administrative cost and personnel will not be funded from the utilities revenues, Muckler said, as those will come from the city’s general fund.
Council member Mary Beth Stevenson agreed there are plenty of “shovel-ready” projects for the city to address.
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