Dear Members,
On September 29, several board members were given a preview of the Stormwater Utility Feasibility Study. Unfortunately, we did not get the complete study by Black & Veatch, but we did request the actual document. We have attached the City-Parish presentation to the Growth Coalition.
In the past legislative session, a bill was passed to allow
parishes and cities to impose a FEE, not a tax, to pay for stormwater maintenance, water quality compliance, and program administration.
Unlike a tax, the fee can be adopted by the Metro Council without a vote of the people. The program would generate approx.—$ 46 million. We have yet to see a copy of the proposed ordinance. The devil is always in the details.
We were advised the following:
The Mayor will have a press conference on the proposal on October 6. The item will be introduced on October 12, and a public hearing will be held on October 26.
The Growth Coalition has requested a copy of the draft ordinance. Page 9 of the attachment describes the billing calculation. We were advised that the fee would be on your assessor’s tax bill for each parcel.
The billing unit (BU) is based on 500 square feet of Impervious Area. It will be your house footprint, driveways, and swimming pools for residential. It would be the footprint and all of the parking areas for commercial. Undeveloped property (no house or parking on the parcel) pays a maximum amount as described in the presentation.
The City-Parish has contracted with a company that uses GIS data to make that calculation. We were advised that the GIS website would be available soon to access the fee calculations on your tract of land. This fee would be imposed on the entire city and all unincorporated areas. It would exclude Zachary and Central.
At the present time, the City-Parish is spending $9.7 from the general fund for stormwater maintenance. We were advised that the City-Parish plans to spend approximately $56 million in federal money (ARP) over the next two years.
The City-Parish advised that it is under the gun from the state and the federal government over water quality issues. A portion of this money ($4.9 million) is for water quality compliance.
As we get more information, we will keep you updated. The full board will discuss this issue at our member on October 12.
BATON ROUGE STORMWATER UTILITY FEASIBILITY STUDY