6.2. SR 04-09-2012 - Laserfiche WebLink

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`~~ REQUEST FOR ACTION .......River TO ITEM NUMBER Ma or and Ci Council 6.2 AGENDA SECTION MEETING DATE PREPARED BY Work Session April 9, 2012 Rebecca Haug, Environmental Administrator ITEM DESCRIPTION REVIEWED By stormwater Utility Fee Justin Femrite, City Engineer & Tim Simon, Finance Director REVIEWED BY Cal Portner, Ci Administrator ACTION REQUESTED Staff is requesting direction on the implementation of a storm water utility fee. BACKGROUND/DISCUSSION Since 2003, the city has been required to comply with the state and federal National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program rules and regulations. The state is in the process of revising the permit which is proposed to be approved by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) Board sometime in August 2012. This new permit has several new mandated requirements for the city. The city's current levy for the stormwater program ($50,000) will not sufficiently cover the costs of these requirements without some significant future increases. A majority of other Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) communities in Minnesota have implemented a storm water utility fee to cover the costs of this unfunded state and federal mandated program. Utility fees are considered to be a more .fair means to pay for the stormwater maintenance activity than local property taxes because each property is designated a charge based upon the amount of their contributed stormwater runoff. As you know, property tax levies are designated based upon the value attributed to your property, with no correlation to the amount of services used. Council approved engaging Stantec to conduct a storm water utility fee analysis on November 14, 2011. The purpose of this fee would allow for the City of Elk River to continue meeting the existing NPDES program rules and the proposed rule changes in the new permit. This fee would allow the city to charge for stormwater services to clean up the lakes, rivers, and streams. Currently, several communities along the Minnesota River and in the South Metro along the Mississippi River are required to implement measures to clean up the rivers. The costs for the Minnesota River are estimated at $175 million and the South Metro Mississippi River is $850 million. Work on determining the costs for communities along the Upper Mississippi River, which extends from Hastings to St. Cloud and includes Elk River, are just beginning but are projected to cost about the same as the South Metro Mississippi River. In addition, the city is required to maintain our current system. Anticipated projects include dredging of the Lion's Park wetland and possibly Lake Orono in the next few years as part of this C6NtEREIf BY N:\Public Bodies\City Council\Council RCA\Agenda Packet\storm water.docx ~~