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The Stormwater Management Utility: An Innovative Financing Alternative In the past two decades, we have seen a shift to financing water, wastewater and refuse services through user fees. However, stormwater management has, for the most part, remained a local general fund program with little or no outside assistance. This too is changing. As land development and urban redevelopment increase the need for stormwater management, local governments are forced to look for an adequate revenue source to support stormwater management facilities. The user fee system, which has been successful for water and wastewater facilities, offers a positive funding alternative for stormwater management. The Funding Dilemma Victoria Tschinkel, Secretary of the Florida Department of Environmental Regulation, calls stormwater "the �0 ' major unaddressed environmental problem in the state" Stormwater runoff problems such as flooding, soil erosion, sedimentation and water pollution must be addressed: to accommodate Florida's Land development and urban redevelopment i usually increase stormwater runoff by creating imper. meable areas and changing natural drainage ways. The burden of managing this increased runoff falls largely on local governments, which traditionally have had to rely on property tax funds to con- struct, operate and maintain stormwater management facilities. Financing public works improvements from the property tax base, whether for stormwater or other improvements, has faced increased resistance in the last decade. The public message echoed in recent tax rebellions is clear—find alternative means of funding public improvements. YEARS General Funds 00 Pg. ments An Innovative. Alternative An effective alternative for stormwater management financing is the creation of a stormwater utility which relies on user fees rather than tax revenues for funding. The utility system is user oriented, with costs allocated according to the service received. Each parcel of land within a local government's juris- diction is assessed a charge based on its runoff characteristics. Charges are determined according to the parcel's size and its percent of impervious or paved area. Thus, _ user charges are related to a given parcel's stormwater contribution in excess of that contributed in its natural state (Gallagher and Laredo, 1983). The stormwater utility concept has been imple- Ntlo Priede mented by several com- munities in the western United States to keep pace with rapid development. Since 1974, the City of Boulder, Colorado, has financed its stormwater management pro- gram through a stormwater utility. The utility charges owners of all developed pro. perty within the city a drainage and flood control fee. According to a recent synopsis of Boulder's system, the stormwater fee is based on each person's use of the city's storm sewer facilities. Use is defined as the amount of runoff from a land parcel in excess of that which would have occurred had the parcel been left undeveloped (Thompson, 1982). Stormwater user charge systems are also in operation in Denver and Aurora, Colorado; Tacoma, Bellevue, Vancouver and Clark County, Washington; and Portland and Corvallis, Oregon (Poertner, 1981). With the state growing at a rate of almost 1,000 new residents a day, Florida's com- "Financingstormt ester management according to use instead of taxation creates fair management and a welcome source of revenue to a community." Reprinted with permission from FLORIDA MUNICIPAL RECORD U�ility ntribution munities are fapng the increased stormwater managementeeds that accompany rapid development. I governments will be forced to look or an adequate revenue source to support stormwater management systems. The user fee concept, which has .been successfu for water and wastewater facilities, offers Florida: a: * itive funding alternative for stormwater management. Camp Dresser'& McKee Inc. (CDM) has conducted studies for the'cities of Tampa and Tallahassee that show the user fee system to be fair and equitable. Setting Up a Stormwater Utility A successW financing program for each community m ist be assessed on that community's i idividual characteristics and needs. However, high degrees of public acceptance an i government confidence have been den ionstrated for establishing a stormwater u ' ity program which integrates the following c omponents. o Phase C lut General Fund Con- tributions. This allows a gradual transition to a full utility (enterprise fund), usually over a five-year period. • Adopt a Stotmwater Ordinance, The ordinance identifies the duties of the municipality, the users (property owners), and developers, and sets forth the legal framework for he utility's financing and operation. An equitable system for com- puting user f is developed, as well as a mechanism for fixing developer contributions. • Prepare Stormwater Master Plan Controls. A comprehensive stormwater master plan is prepared to guide near -tern and long-term stormwater management system improvements. Such a plan is necessary for estimating developer con. tributions and determining additional capacity needs in new offsite facilities. This graph dramatically illustrates the economic adtan. tage ofstorm. water utility financing. 3 ,JUN J 1 ,81 BOOK 168 FAGS 482