Largest Cedar Rapids properties face spike in stormwater fees

CEDAR RAPIDS - City Council member Scott Olson wondered this week if the phones had started ringing in the Public Works Department.

They had, he was assured.

The reaction already starting is from about 100 large property owners who face significant hikes in the stormwater utility fee as part of a city proposal to more equitably bill industrial and commercial properties that send a lot of stormwater into a system in need of $50 million in improvements.

In 2012, the city made a move to bill property owners for stormwater runoff based on property size to end a practice in which every property owner - homeowner and giant industrial site alike - paid $4.78 a month.

At the time, though, the city backed off a plan similar to one it now once again is looking to adopt that ties fees to the size of roofs, parking lots, driveways and other impervious surfaces that won't let stormwater infiltrate into the soil.

This system, which is in place in Des Moines, Iowa City, Dubuque, Davenport and Waterloo, is based on an 'equivalent residential unit.”

Under Cedar Rapids' proposed ERU fee, typical homeowners who may have one-tenth of an acre of impervious surface on their property would pay a stormwater fee of $62.12 a year, which is similar to now.

A property owner with 10 acres, 5 of which are impervious areas, would see the annual bill increase from about $2,600 to $3,100 Those with 100 acres, 75 of which are impervious, would see a jump from the current $3,100 a year to $46,000 a year.

Sandy Pumphrey, a project engineer in the Public Works Department, told the City Council's Infrastructure Committee this week that about 5 percent of the total properties in the city that pay the stormwater utility fee make up a group of 'most impacted customers.”

Sara Baughman, the city's communications coordinator for utilities, said Wednesday that the city has contacted 92 larger property owners who will see their current stormwater fee at least double or will see it rise to exceed the current top fee of about $3,100 a year. That 92 includes big industrial properties, big-box retail stores, hospitals, car dealerships, mobile home parks and some apartment complexes.

Pumphrey said the city has contacted them about the proposed increase and is hearing back from some.

He said the proposal allows owners to reduce fees if they implement practices such as pervious pavement or bioswales that keep water on a property so it can infiltrate into the ground.

On Jan. 6, the city will hold an open house on the plan. The City Council Infrastructure Committee will take up the matter again Jan. 16. The full council could consider it in March if the proposal moves ahead. Any change would take effect in July.

Olson, the Infrastructure Committee chairman, this week recalled that Marion looked at a similar practice only to set it aside after an 'uprising” from property owners and developers, a characterization that Marion City Manager Lon Pluckhahn said was not inaccurate.

However, Pluckhahn said Marion set the matter aside when Cedar Rapids did because Marion did not want to impose higher stormwater fees if Cedar Rapids did not.

The city's current tiered-fee system with a basic residential rate and 14 non-residential tiers based on property size raises about $4 million each year. About $2 million of that goes for sewer administration and $2 million for capital improvements on the 508 miles of storm sewers in the system. The new fee structure would raise an additional $1.5 million a year for capital improvements.

Olson said the additional revenue would allow the city to take a bigger bite into what the city has determined is $50 million in stormwater sewer improvements needed in the years ahead.

The city has been working on master plans to improve its storm sewer system and its separate sanitary sewer system in the wake of a flash flood in June 2014, which damaged property in many spots in the city.

According to city figures, the proposed higher stormwater fees for larger properties would still tax those properties less than if they were in Des Moines or Dubuque, but would tax them more than if they were in West Des Moines, Davenport, Marion, Waterloo, Iowa City and Coralville.

Council member Ralph Russell asked why Des Moines and Dubuque were the highest. Jon Durst, the city's sewer superintendent, said Des Moines has a joint system of storm and sanitary sewers that it needs to separate into two systems while Dubuque has made an 'aggressive” effort to improve stormwater runoff.

Olson wondered how difficult it will be to determine how much impervious property a property owner has. Pumphrey said the city easily collects 'planimetric” data during flyovers of the city. This is data of buildings, parking lots and other features that don't have topographic features.