City of Alexandria, Virginia
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MEMORANDUM
DATE: APRIL 26, 2017
TO: THE HONORABLE MAYOR AND MEMBERS OF CITY COUNCIL
FROM: MARK B. JINKS, CITY MANAGER /s/
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Final Passage on an Ordinance to Implement the Stormwater Utility Fee as Included in the FY 2018 Proposed Budget. [ROLL-CALL VOTE]
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ISSUE: Creation of a Stormwater Utility to fund capital and operating costs of new state and federal environment mandates.
RECOMMENDATION: That City Council pass the proposed ordinance on May 4, 2017, with an effective date of January 1, 2018.
BACKGROUND: The City Council directed staff in February 2016 to develop the framework of a Stormwater Utility (SWU) to provide a dedicated funding source to more equitably distribute the increasing costs of recent state and federal Chesapeake Bay protection mandates that require the implementation of costly infrastructure associated with stormwater management, as enforced through the City's Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit. It is projected that the City will need to invest $62.1 million in stormwater capital projects over the next ten years. Council also directed staff to implement the Stormwater Utility Public Outreach Framework of directly engaging stakeholder groups to discuss the proposed SWU framework.
In 2009, the City convened an ad hoc committee to consider a dedicated funding source to address stormwater management program costs associated with increased incidents of flooding. The committee recommended the City Council implement a stormwater utility to fund these needs. Council ultimately chose to set aside 1/2 cent of the Real Estate tax rate to a dedicated Stormwater Fund starting FY 2010. Starting July 2013, recent state and federal pollution reduction mandates associated with the Chesapeake Bay Total Maximum Daily Load (TMDL) require that the City fund the installation of costly stormwater infrastructure to meet pollution reduction targets enforce...
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