Stormwater user fee increase clears hurdle
Dec. 13—GOSHEN — Plans to increase Elkhart County's stormwater user fee cleared another hurdle Monday during a meeting of the Elkhart County Board of Commissioners.
At the meeting, the commissioners approved an ordinance calling for an increase to the stormwater user fee assessed biannually on county property tax bills.
The Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership, which oversees the stormwater user fee, is composed of the governments of the city of Elkhart, the city of Goshen, Elkhart County and the town of Bristol. The partnership is "a cooperative effort to implement the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) plan" of the four governmental entities, the board's website notes.
That plan includes six minimum control measures and outlines programs to improve the quality of stormwater that runs off of the land and into rivers, lakes and streams. They include: public education and outreach; public participation and involvement; illicit discharge detection and elimination; construction site stormwater run-off management; post-construction stormwater run-off control; and good housekeeping and pollution prevention.
Established in 2006 at a rate of $1.25 per month, or $15 per year, the stormwater user fee goes toward funding the work of the partnership in helping to implement the MS4 plan.
As designed, each member of the partnership gets a say in setting the amount of the stormwater user fee, and all must agree and pass legislation within their respective governments before the user fee can be increased.
The county partnership's stormwater user fee has not been increased since its establishment in 2006, and as such is currently one of the lowest in the region, and well below the state average of $5.74 a month, or $68.88 per year.
Given that the fee rate has never been adjusted, the partnership recently approached advisory CPA firm Baker Tilly to conduct a stormwater user fee assessment. Per that assessment, the partnership as a whole currently brings in about $2.6 million annually in stormwater user fees, while its annual funding needs come to about $3.7 million — a $1.1 million shortfall.
As such, the firm recommended raising the stormwater user fee to $3 a month, which in turn would meet the requirements for each stormwater department to move forward and to continue to do what they are needing to do for their communities.
As proposed, the plan would be to gradually increase the user fee to $3 per month over three phases beginning with the billing in the calendar years of 2023, 2026 and 2029. That change would increase the county's annual $15 stormwater fee to $22.05 in 2023, $29.10 in 2026 and finally $36.10 in 2029.
According to John Heiliger, stormwater coordinator for Elkhart County, the fee increase is needed in order for the partnership to fulfill all of its state-mandated responsibilities, and he fears the partnership will disband if the increase is denied.
"If you choose not to vote for this, the partnership is going to disband," Heiliger told the commissioners. "And when it disbands, everyone is going to have to figure out what their rate is going to be.
"This partnership went to very extensive lengths to come up with a fee that met everybody's palate," he added. "It's not going anywhere, and not funding it isn't going to make it go away."
In the end, a majority of the commissioners agreed, and the fee increase request was approved in a vote of 2-1 in favor. Voting for the increase were commissioners Suzie Weirick and Frank Lucchese. Commissioner Brad Rogers was the sole "No" vote.
With its passage Monday, the user fee increase request will now move forward for final consideration by the Elkhart County Council.
