El Paso Up in Arms Over New Stormwater Fees
EL PASO, Texas, April 29, 2008 (ENS) – New stormwater fees that added more than $1,000 per month to the water bills of some businesses are causing an uproar in El Paso. Now city officials are holding public meetings to defuse the outrage and have agreed to review the fees.
Last July, the El Paso City Council created a separate utility to manage stormwater drainage and moved the responsibility for stormwater management and control to the El Paso Water Utilities Public Service Board. The Board began managing the new stormwater utility on March 1.
All property owners knew that to fund the city’s stormwater needs, the utility would assess a monthly charge to each property in the city based on the amount of stormwater runoff from the property.
But when the first stormwater bills arrived in property owners’ mailboxes starting March 1, many owners hit the roof.
While owners of homes in the 2,000 to 3,000 square foot range saw a $4.75 charge added to their bills, business owners, school districts, churches and other nonresidential property owners have seen charges in the hundreds of dollars. Some charges amounted to more than $1,000.
Owners of nonresidential property are being charged $4.85 for each 2,000 square feet of impermeable area, including rooftops and paved parking lots.
For example, a 4,000-square-foot office building with a 2,000-square-foot paved parking lot will pay $14.55 monthly.
In a series of public meetings over the part two weeks, business owners have given water officials an earful. Car dealers are especially hard hit.
Steve Hoy, president of Hoy Fox Automotive Group, is leading the efforts of El Paso’s new car dealers who are trying to get the stormwater fees lowered.
Hoy Fox’s three El Paso lots are paying $1,971 per month, or $23,652 per year, for the new stormwater charge.
Hoy told the “El Paso Times” newspaper that the dealers cannot pass these fees on to customers. They must absorb them and may have to cut back on their charitable activities as a result.
Churches are also reeling from the new stormwater fee which has added $500 a month, or $6,000 a year, to the water bill of the Exciting Immanuel Baptist Church, which ran around $1,500 a month before the new fee was imposed.
The level of outrage among El Paso businesses and churches has water officials agreeing to review the rates, but one critic of local government says people should not have to pay anything at all because the new stormwater utility is not legal.
Ray Gilbert is not an attorney, but a retired corporate executive who knows his way around Texas laws and the local government code. He says the Public Service Board was established under one law that calls for a five-member board to operate a water utility.
By contrast, Gilbert points out, the stormwater utility was set up under a different law requiring a board of at least seven members.
So, Gilbert concludes, people don’t have to pay the stormwater utility fees.
The utility says the fee for residential property is based on Central Appraisal District information. Non-residential properties are measured to determine their impervious areas.
Officials say that in 2006, it became evident that the storm drainage system needed major upgrading and repairs. Construction and maintenance had not been adequately funded. Without a dedicated funding source, separate from the city’s general revenue, stormwater drainage needs would have continued to be deferred.
Before March 1, stormwater management functions were shared by several city departments and funded from the city’s general fund. However, last July, City Council moved the responsibility for stormwater management to El Paso Water Utilities and authorized the utility to establish a fee to fund stormwater services and facilities.
The stormwater fee pays for the operations and maintenance of the existing stormwater system, as well as the planning, design and construction of system improvements.
Most of the channels, culverts, and storm drainage trunk-lines do not have adequate capacity to convey the water from a 100 year event, water officials say.
Ten percent of the revenues will pay for projects that combine stormwater management with the preservation of open spaces, wilderness areas and arroyos.
Two more public meetings are scheduled for this week. They both will be held in El Paso.
* Tuesday, April 29 6 p.m. – City Hall, 10th Floor Conference Room, 2 Civic Center Plaza
* Wednesday, April 30 6 p.m. – Mission Valley Regional Command Center, 9011 Escobar Drive
Customers with site-specific questions should call the utility’s Customer Service Department at 594-5500.
