The City Council is being asked to perform a final review of and approve the rate studies for the Stormwater Utility and Street Lighting Assessments and give City Staff its consent to move forward with the assessment procedures for both Assessments, at a rate of $80.00 for Stormwater Utilities and $38.71 for Street Lighting.

The City Council adopted ordinances establishing a Stormwater Utility Assessment and Street Lighting Assessment in September 2001 and 2003, respectively.  The City has found that the use of a non-ad valorem assessment is the most equitable method of providing the necessary funding for providing street lighting services within the City and improvements and extensions of the City’s stormwater utility system.

The rate studies used to support the current assessment rates for the Stormwater Utility Assessment and Street Lighting Assessment were performed in May 2012 by Government Service Group.  Those rate studies covered a 5-year period ending FY2017.  City staff has engaged Ayres Associates to perform updated rate studies to ensure that the current assessment rate is appropriate for continued support of the City’s stormwater management program and street lighting program.   

The first draft of the rate studies were presented to the City Council during a work session on May 16, 2017.  Ayres Associates will present the final drafts of the rate studies for your review and approval.

City staff is proposing an assessment rate of $80.00 for Stormwater Utilities, which is an increase of $2.64 from the previous assessment rate of $77.36.  City staff is also proposing an assessment rate of $38.71 for Street Lighting, which is an increase of $2.47 from the previous assessment rate of $36.24.  Both proposed rates are supported by the rate studies prepared by Ayres Associates.