Stormwater utilities

Stormwater utilities are different from other utilities: Customers want services such as power and water and are willing to pay to receive them on demand. On the other hand, stormwater ratepayers are being asked to pay to prevent things they don’t want, such as water pollution and flooding. Also, it is difficult to correlate the rate paid by individual customers to a specific level of service that directly benefits them.

Some advice if you want to pursue a stormwater utility:

•  Insert a citizen’s group between yourself and every hard decision you must make.
•  Create a logo for the utility and put it on everything – vehicles, stationery, offices, watershed signs.
•  If you are not marketing the program every day and showing people where the money is going, you’re setting yourself up for failure.

Most municipalities enact two ordinances to create a stormwater utility: one to establish the components of the utility, and a separate one to set the rate structure. Forming the utility through two ordinances allows the flexibility to alter the rate structure at a later date without having to revise the first ordinance.

You cannot exempt anyone from paying the stormwater utility fee – not even non-profit or governmental organizations. But you can allow partial credits against the fees for items such as:

•  Residents of neighborhoods that maintain drainage ponds.
•  A commercial property with storm-runoff mitigation features.
•  Schools that teach water conservation.

Some example stormwater utility ordinances

• City of Raleigh
• City of Charlotte

Other references:

• Stormwater Utilities: Where do they Stand Now? In Stormwater 4(3) online
• Funding and Gaining Support for Stormwater Utilities (NRDC)
• An Internet Guide to Financing Stormwater Management (Center for Urban Policy and the Environment)