Stormwater Management Utility Fee Rates and Billing Options

Beginning this summer, you will be reading and hearing acronyms such as “SWM” and “ERU,” and you will be given opportunities to tell the Mayor and Council what you think of them and related issues.

In November 2006, the Mayor and Council voted to develop a funding plan based on a new annual fee to support stormwater management (SWM) programs through a SWM Utility. This summer, enabling legislation is expected to be introduced, followed by public hearings. A resolution setting the fees is expected to be on the Mayor and Council’s agenda in early 2008.

As detailed in last month’s Rockville Reports, the Mayor and Council decided to use a fee rather than a tax to fund maintenance of and upgrades to the City’s storm water drains and SWM facilities, reduce stream erosion and pollution, and to meet costly federal  requirements. A fee will be based on the amount of “impervious” surface (e.g., driveways,
rooftops, parking lots) on a property, whereas a tax would not be related to such surfaces and would place a heavier financial burden on residential properties than on commercial properties.

Estimated SWM Utility Fee Rates

The amount of impervious surface is directly related to the amount of storm water runoff from each property. In Rockville, the typical singlefamily residential impervious surface is 2,330 square feet, and since it is roughly the same for all single-family properties, it provides the base unit for determining the SWM fee. This unit is called an Equivalent
Residential Unit (ERU), and each single-family residential unit would be charged one ERU. In the first year, the fee is expected to be about $56 for each ERU, and it is expected to gradually increase to about $89 in the seventh year.

Compared to single-family homes, the office, retail, institutional, and multi-family properties vary widely in impervious area, and so do their impacts on stormwater management facilities and programs. Using aerial photography, the City has measured impervious areas and calculated the number of ERUs on these properties. Each property would be charged a multiple of the ERU rate to match its impervious area. For example, a store with a roof and parking lot of 23,330 square feet (a little over a half-acre) would have ten times as much impervious area as a typical single family lot, so the store owner would pay 10 times as much, or about $560 in the first year and about $890 in the seventh year.

Billing Methods

Similar to Montgomery County, the City’s tentative plan is to list the SWM fee on the annual property tax bill. The Mayor and Council vote on the fee in January 2008, and the fee will occur in the first billing cycle in the summer of 2008.

Townhouse and condominium communities present a special case since they share common impervious areas, such as parking lots and tennis courts, in addition to their homes. The City may offer two billing options to these communities: either the City would divide the common areas equally between the housing unit owners, or it would bill the homeowners’ association directly for the common areas, and the association would determine how to split the cost between its members. The City will discuss this with the associations to determine the preferred method.