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HomeMy WebLinkAboutItem 6.4 Strom Water Utility Fee (2) CITY OF DUBLIN AGENDA STATEMENT City Council Meeting Date: July 27, 1992 SUBJECT: Public Hearing - City-Wide Storm Water Utility Fee Report by: Public Works Director Lee Thompson EXHIBITS ATTACHED: Resolution RECOMMENDATION: 1) Open Public Hearing 2) Receive Staff Presentation and Public Comment 3) Question Staff and Public 4) Close Public Hearing and Deliberate 5) Adopt Resolution FINANCIAL STATEMENT: The proposed storm water management program for Fiscal Year 1992-93 totals $192,985. This amount is to be funded by the following sources of revenue: (1) $144,900 in storm water utility fees; (2) $3,600 in interest revenue; and (3) $44,485 from 1991-92 carryover reserves. It is important to note that in order to raise the $144,900 in revenues, it is anticipated that property owners will have to be charged $155,305 in order to raise the necessary revenues and account for an estimated delinquency of payment by property owners of 5% and the cost of collection charged to the City by the County in the amount of 1.7%. The proposed fee for Fiscal Year 1992-93 should not exceed the fee charged property owners during Fiscal Year 1991-92 ($13.80) and may even be somewhat less than that amount depending on the final assessor's roll. DESCRIPTION: In July 1991, the City Council approved a Storm Water Utility Fee which would be charged to all property owners in the City in order to offset the cost of the Federally required National Pollution Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Program. This fee is collected for the City by the Alameda County Tax Collector. The storm drain system is in place to help prevent the flooding of property due to rain and storm waters. The Storm Water Management Plan for the Alameda County Urban Runoff Clean Water Program describes in detail the objectives of the program. A brief summary of the objectives and components follows. a) Public Information and Participation: This component is proposed to educate the public to better understand and participate in the control of urban runoff pollution and to solicit support for the program. Some examples of Public Information and Participation are: 1. Urban Runoff kick-off event. COPIES TO: ITEM N0. 64& 4 CITY CLERK FILE RgUo 2. Fact sheet and brochure. 3. Slide show. 4. Urban Runoff Information telephone number. 5. Telephone survey. 6. Public workshops or meetings. 7. Media campaign. 8. Installation of stencils by students or City staff on storm drain inlets. b) Municipal Government Activities: This component is proposed to improve activities performed by city and county government agencies and promote adoption of new practices to reduce the amount of pollutants entering the municipal storm drain systems. Some examples of Municipal Government Activities are: 1. Household hazardous waste collection programs. 2. Collection or recycling program for non-hazardous material. 3. Litter pickup and control. 4. Erosion control on undeveloped lands. 5. Street sweeping. 6. Maintenance of storm drain inlets, catch basins, and storm drain lines and channels. C) New Development and Construction Site Controls: This component is proposed to control storm water pollution originating from new development and significant redevelop-ment, both during and after construction. Some examples of New Development and Construction Site Controls are: 1.' Site planning procedures which consider potential water quality impacts. 2. Detailed procedures for inspecting sites and enforcing control measures which address the nature of the construction activity, topography, characteristics of soils, and receiving water quality. 3. Structural (such as hay bales or sandbags to trap sediment and pollutants) and non-structural (such as spills prevention) practices. 4. Educational and training measures for construction site operators. d) Illicit Discharge Identification and Elimination: This component is proposed to eliminate all non-storm water discharges, including illicit connections and illegal dump-ing into the municipal storm drain system. Some examples of Illicit Discharge Identification and Elimination are: 1. A program to enforce ordinances to prevent illicit discharges. 2. Ongoing field screening activities. 3. Investigations of those portions of the storm drain system that have a reasonable potential of containing illicit discharges. 4. Procedures to prevent, contain, and respond to spills that may discharge into .the storm drains. 5. A program to promote public reporting of illicit discharges. Page 2 6. Public education program to facilitate proper manage-ment and disposal of used oil and toxic materials. 7. A program to limit infiltration from sanitary sewers to storm drains. e) Industrial Dischargers Identification and Runoff Control: This component is proposed to identify industrial discharges in Alameda County, ensure that the industries are discharging only storm water to the municipal storm drain system, and help industries learn how they can reduce pollutants in their storm water runoff and comply with state and local requirements. It is expected that the person who conducts the field inspections for the Illicit Discharge Identification and Elimination Program . Component will conduct the industrial site inspections as necessary. f) Monitoring: This component is proposed to conduct monitor-ing which will augment existing monitoring results on hydrologic and water quality conditions in Alameda County creeks, help identify sources of storm water pollution, evaluate effectiveness of controls proposed by the other program components, and evaluate effectiveness of the overall program on improving water quality. g) Storm Water Treatment: This component is proposed to retro-fit selected existing storm water facilities to enhance their ability to remove contaminants from storm water or construct new facilities to treat storm water. Additionally, the program component -will identify new or improved ways to operate and maintain existing storm water facilities to enhance removal of pollutants. As part of the 1992-93 Budget consideration, the City Council approved funding the street sweeping program for 1992-93 with this fee, since street sweeping services are in essence required by this program in order to keep pollutants from car engines and other sources from entering into the storm drain system. Funding for this mandated Program has not been provided by Federal, State or Regional sources. Each city is responsible for its own funding of this Program. Alameda County and seven other cities in Alameda County have already created a benefit assessment district to fund this program. Some other cities are in the process of either creating a storm water utility fee or an assessment district. The cost to each property owner is proposed to be calculated based on equivalent runoff area for the single-family and duplex units. The average lot size for single-family and duplex units in the City is approximately 6,915 square feet. Single-family and duplex lots have approximately 30% less runoff than the same size commercial, industrial and multi-family lots which have larger paved and covered areas. An average equivalent runoff area for single-family units is approximately 4,840 square feet (70% of 6,915 sf commercial lot) . Each single-family and duplex unit fee cost would be equal to the unit charge of one Equivalent Runoff Single- Family Residential Unit. All other properties, such as commercial, industrial, Page 3 multi-family, etc. , (except condominiums and vacant lots) are proposed to be converted to the number of equivalent runoff single-family units using the following formula: No. of Equivalent Runoff = Total Area (sf) Single-Family Residential Units 4,840 sf The average covered area for each condominium is approximately 60% of the average single-family lot. Therefore, each condominium would be 60% of an Equivalent Runoff Single-Family Residential Unit (ERSFRU) . Vacant lots that do not have any improvements on them are proposed to be charged 50% of an equivalent improved lot due to more absorbency of the soil and less runoff. The total amount of funds needed for storm water management programs will be divided by the total amount of ERSFRU's in the City to find the unit price of the ERSFRU. The land use °information to calculate the number of ERSFRU's was based on County Assessor's land use information from March 1991 to March 1992. At the time this report was prepared, this was the most current information available. The following formula is used to calculate the unit price of ERSFRU's: Unit Price of ERSFRU = total cost = 155,305 total number of ERSFRU's 11,304 The unit fee will be multiplied by the number of ERSFRU's in each lot. Based on the 1991-92 tax roll, the proposed unit fee for each ERSFRU would be $13.74 per year. This unit fee has decreased a small amount due to the use of carryover funds from 1991-92. The 1991-92 fee was $13.80. Following is the method of calculating the proposed fee for different land uses. Land Use Fee Cost Each Single-Family Residential 1 x unit fee of ERSFRU Each Duplex 1 x unit fee of ERSFRU Each Condominium 0.6 x unit fee of ERSFRU Commercial, Industrial and Lot size (sf) x unit fee of ERSFRU Multi-Family Residential 4,840 sf Vacant Lot One-half of the fee for improved lot Federal, State, County, City and other public facilities are exempt from this fee. Fees will be collected by Alameda. County as part of the property taxes. The fees must be approved by City Council prior to the first week of August, 1992, in order for the County to collect them for this Fiscal Year. The County offers the best method for collecting the fees as billing will be sent to property owners regardless of whether the property is vacant or occupied. Since an estimated surplus of $44,485 will remain available from the 1991-92 fee collection due to the late start of the program, it is proposed not to increase the fee to property owners for 1992-93. There has been little change in the number of lots in the City, and Staff feels that the estimated revenue from this fee for 1992- 93 plus the surplus will provide sufficient funds for the 1992-93 Program. Staff recommends that the City Council conduct a Public Hearing, deliberate, and adopt the Resolution approving the Storm Water Fee for 1992-93. RESOLUTION NO. -92 A RESOLUTION OF THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF DUBLIN APPROVING AND ESTABLISHING STORM WATER UTILITY FEE WHEREAS, the California Regional Water Quality Control Board' s San Francisco Region requires the City of Dublin to obtain a National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permit to discharge its storm water into streams which lead to San Francisco Bay; and WHEREAS, as part of the NPDES permit, the City must implement a Storm Water Management Plan for the Alameda County Urban Runoff Clean Water Program (Program) ; and WHEREAS, the main objective of the Program is to protect the quality of water and life in San Francisco Bay and tributary streams in Alameda County from potentially adverse effects of storm water pollution; and WHEREAS, funding was not provided for this Federally mandated Program by Federal, State, Regional, or other sources for the Program and permit cost, and each city in Alameda County is responsible for funding its portion of the program and permit cost; and WHEREAS, Staff has developed a method of establishing a City-wide fee to cover the costs of the Program, including cost of the permit, reserve funds, the cost of collecting fees and an estimated 5% delinquency; and WHEREAS, storm drainage systems help to prevent flooding of properties ; and WHEREAS, the cost to each property owner is proposed to be calculated based on equivalent runoff area for the single-family residential units (ERSFRU) as set forth in the report prepared by the City Public Works Department; and WHEREAS, a noticed public hearing was held for purposes of considering adoption of this Resolution and the proposed Storm Water Utility fee; and WHEREAS, the report was available for public inspection and review more than ten ( 10) days prior to this public hearing; and WHEREAS, said Council has duly considered said report and each and every part thereof, and all testimony received at the public hearing finds that each and every part of said report is sufficient, and that said report, nor any part thereof requires or should be modified in any respect; WHEREAS, the Council finds that: A. The purpose of the Storm Water Utility Fee is to provide a program for storm water drainage for all properties within the City; B. The cost of the program and the method of allocating the cost among all properties within the City is set forth herein; C . The fees collected pursuant to this Resolution shall be used to provide funds to implement Dublin' s share of the Storm Water Management Plan for the Alameda County Urban Runoff Clean Water Program: D. The amount to be raised through the Storm Water Utility Fee for 1992-1993 does not exceed the estimated total cost of the Program and related expenses described in the report for Fiscal Year 1992-93; and NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the City of Dublin establishes and adopts a City-Wide Water Utility Fee. BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that the following method be used to calculate the City-Wide Storm Water Utility fees for different land uses for the 1992-1993 fiscal year: Land Use Fee Cost Each Single-Family Residential 1 x unit price of ERSFRU Each Duplex 1 x unit price of ERSFRU Each Condominium 0 . 6 x unit price of ERSFRU Commercial, Industrial and Lot size (sf) x unit price of ERSFRU Multi-Family Residential 4, 840 sf Each Vacant Lot One-half of the fee for an equivalent improved lot 2 - ERSFRU = Equivalent Runoff Single-Family Residential Unit. The fee for Fiscal Year 1992-93 for each ERSFRU shall be $14 . 00 (or lower) , based on the total number of ERSFRU' s appearing on the 1991-92 Alameda County Assessor' s roll and a total cost of $155, 305 . FURTHER BE IT RESOLVED that the City Manager is authorized and directed to enter into all necessary agreements with Alameda County for collection of the fees along with property taxes, including payment to Alameda County of its reasonable costs of collection not to exceed 1 . 7% of the total amount collected. PASSED, APPROVED AND ADOPTED this 27th day of July, 1992 . AYES : NOES: ABSENT: Mayor ATTEST: City Clerk a:(npdes)92-3\reso92-3 3 -