An independent committee set up to look at water quality, or stormwater, fee hikes voted Thursday to recommend the appeals deadline be pushed back to June 1.
The recommendation came from committee member Mike Price, who said there is still a lot of trepidation from the public, which wants to see what comes out of the committee.
“A lot of people are waiting until this board makes a decision,” he said.
The committee voted 9-0 to give the recommendation to the City Council, which created the committee two months ago after controversy erupted over the water quality fees hike. The rate went from $36 a year to $115.20 a year for residences.
City officials said the resolution to extend the appeals deadline could come before the council in the next two weeks.
The original Dec. 31 deadline was delayed to March 1 by the City Council last month.
Bill Raines, chairman of the water quality committee, said Thursday that the board is trying to get recommendations and a final report to the council by Feb. 11. The committee plans to have two public input sessions next Thursday at 5 and 6 p.m.
Dan Johnson, chief of staff for Mayor Ron Littlefield, also talked with the committee Thursday about delinquent accounts for water quality fees that were supposed to be paid between 2004 and 2008. Mr. Johnson said that there are millions of dollars that could potentially be collected.
“We’re looking at $5.7 million,” Mr. Johnson said.
A majority of those fees come from federal and state authorities, he said.
Questions arose from committee members about how those who don’t pay are alerted. Mr. Johnson said there is no notification by the city to those who don’t pay the fee.
“That is a weakness in the system,” he said.
Council Chairman Jack Benson said he has been confronted by members of the public who want to pay their back fees but are unsure how to do it.
“They don’t know where to pay it,” he said. “That’s what we’re going to deal with now.”
BY THE NUMBERS* $22.5 million: Total amount budgeted 2009-10 fiscal year for water quality program* $577,000: Estimated amount the budget could go lower due to appeals* $67,000: Total amount budget could be lowered due to credits* 41: Number of credit applications sent to the city so farSource: Water Quality CommitteePUBLIC INPUTThe Water Quality Committee will hold a public input session next week at the City Council building. There will be two sessions — one starting at 5 p.m. and the second starting at 6 p.m.
Daisy Madison, the city’s chief financial officer, said the delinquent accounts are usually turned over to a collection agency after one year. It is then the responsibility of the agency to collect the fee, she said.
Mr. Price also brought up how many people are taking advantage of the city’s current credit program for the water quality fee. Institutions and industries can qualify for up to a 50 percent break on their water quality fees.
City officials said Thursday that 41 people had applied for credits.
“That constitutes 0.3 percent of the budget,” Mr. Price said.
He said he thinks more people are not taking advantage of the credit program because the incentives are not enough. He said he thinks the incentive should be upward around 75 percent.
“Given we’ve only got 41 applications, I don’t think it’s going to rob the revenue stream,” he said.