Water quality rates for homeowners could drop to $90 a year if a proposed plan is approved by the City Council.
Mike Price, a member of the independent committee appointed by the council to examine the water quality, or stormwater, fees, presented a revised budget plan Thursday morning. His plan would cut the program’s budget from about $21 million to $14 million and lower rates.
The plan prompted almost an hour of back and forth debate between Committee Chairman Bill Raines and city staff.
Mr. Price’s proposal is that residential users would pay $115.20 the first year of the fee then drop to $90 annually the next year.
Industries and commercial businesses would pay $72 annually per equivalent residential unit, or ERU, and nonprofit organizations would pay $48 a year per equivalent residential unit.
“It still comes down to dollars and cents,” Mr. Price said.
The committee voted to table Mr. Price’s proposal until Thursday. After some tweaking, it could be voted on and presented to the City Council on Tuesday, Feb. 23, officials said.
Under the plan, the budget would be about $14 million and could come down to about $12.5 million, depending on how many people take advantage of credits and exemptions, Mr. Price said.
City administrators jumped in to say they could sign off on the proposal.
“We’re willing to accept these rates for two years,” said Lee Norris, deputy administrator for the city’s Department of Public Works.
The water quality fee became controversial last year after the City Council approved a rate hike of $24 to $36 a year to $115.20 a year.
DEFINITION OF “ERU”Fees for industries and commercial users are based on the size of the facility when compared to residential houses. For example, a factory may be judged to be the same size as 10 houses, or “equivalent residential units,” or ERUs, according to the plan.Under Mike Price’s plan, such facilities would pay $72 a year per each ERU of their facilities and nonprofit organizations would pay $48 annually per each ERU of their facilities.RATES PROPOSAL* $115.20: The amount residential users would pay the first year* $90: The annual amount residential users pay the second year.* $72: Amount industries and commercial businesses would pay per ERU (equivalent residential units)* $48: The rate nonprofit organizations would pay each year per ERUSource: City Council Water Quality Committee
The independent committee has been working on water quality fees since December after being charged by the council to examine how some of the rate hike could be alleviated.
Many businesses, industries and commercial businesses said they felt harder hit by the fee because they can qualify as multiple residences, or ERUs.
Mr. Price’s proposal came after Mr. Raines presented a proposal last week that leaned heavily on borrowing $20 million per year in bonds to finance the water quality program and paying off the debt balance with water quality fees.
Mr. Raines said his fee structure would raise about $11 million to $12 million a year and paid the bonds off with the money.
He defended his use of financing the program through bonds.
“Nobody goes out and buys a house on cash,” Mr. Raines said. “You don’t even buy a car on cash.”
But city administrators said they worried that such a huge debt load could reflect poorly on the city’s bond rating.
Mr. Norris countered that he had warned against showing a proposal that did not have any legs.
“It’s not an accurate model and that’s why I didn’t want it projected in here,” he said.