[Water_news] 4. DWR'S CALIFORNIA WATER NEWS-WATERQUALITY-3/16/09

Department of Water Resources

California Water News

A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment

 

March 16, 2009

 

4. Water Quality-

 

A drop in the bucket

Some cities' storm-water fees fall far short of costs

The San Diego Union Tribune – 3/15/09

By Helen Gao

 

San Diego homeowners are charged 95 cents a month on their water bills for storm drains, but the revenue generated pays only a fraction of the city's costs to curb water pollution.

 

The fee covers about 14 percent of the city's storm-water budget, which helps protect San Diego's reputation as a top tourist destination with clean beaches and bays.

 

Other cities charge higher fees or property taxes to cover more of the cost. For example, San Jose homeowners pay $5.88 a month. Sacramento residents pay $11.31 a month. In Del Mar, the average homeowner pays about $10 a month.

 

Cities in San Diego County grappling with budget deficits have been looking to storm-water charges to help close financial gaps. San Diego's independent budget analyst released a study on the issue this month.

 

“It's a huge issue,” San Diego Mayor Jerry Sanders said. “We have not raised funding for that for a long time, and yet the state keeps adding new requirements on us. It's one of the issues we have to look at.”

 

In recent years, Del Mar and Solana Beach have won voter approval for fees to offset the costs of their clean-water programs, but even the higher charges don't cover the full amount. An attempt by Encinitas to levy a clean-water fee was defeated by voters in 2006.

 

“It is a struggle. The regulations continue to tighten. The San Diego region's regulations are some of the strictest in the United States,” said Joe DeStefano, Del Mar's clean-water manager.

 

Del Mar's fees cover 75 percent to 80 percent of the cost of its clean-water program, which has a half-million-dollar annual budget, DeStefano said. Residents there pay a monthly base fee of $6.24 and another fee based on the volume of water use. An average homeowner's clean-water charges come out to about $10 a month.

 

Like San Diego, Chula Vista is reviewing its fee structure. The storm-water fee there is 70 cents per month for owners of single-family homes. Fees bring in about $500,000 a year, but Chula Vista spends an average of $2.5 million annually to meet clean-water mandates.

 

“This isn't something we have a choice about,” said Rick Hopkins, Chula Vista's city engineer. “It's mandated by a permit. We would face fines if we are not compliant.”

 

Cost recovery – setting fees equal to operating costs – is a buzz phrase at San Diego City Hall as officials struggle with how to close a $54 million deficit in the fiscal year that will start July 1.

 

San Diego's budget for the storm-water program jumped from $12.9 million in fiscal 2006 to $48.8 million this fiscal year because of tougher rules, until midyear cuts reduced the funding to $43.1 million.

 

That money pays for street sweeping, inspections, public outreach and maintenance. The city has 70,000 storm drains, 800 miles of drainage pipes and 15 storm-water pump stations.

 

No one has done the math to figure out how much San Diego's fees would have to be increased to cover the department's budget. What's certain is that any plan to raise fees in tax-averse San Diego is sure to be politically unpopular, more so now because of hard economic times.

 

Increases must be authorized by voters under Proposition 218, a tax-limiting measure approved by Californians in 1996.

 

Cities that tried to raise storm-water fees in recent years without going to voters – including Solana Beach, Encinitas and Del Mar – were successfully sued by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association.

 

So far, no one on the San Diego City Council has called for a ballot measure to raise the fee, not even those who represent coastal communities.

 

Councilwoman Donna Frye, a favorite of the environmental community, declined to comment, but her spokesman said she doesn't support fee increases unless they're part of a comprehensive package to deal with the city's structural deficit and pension liabilities.

 

Councilman Kevin Faulconer, whose district includes La Jolla, Ocean Beach, Pacific Beach, Mission Beach and Point Loma, said he wouldn't advocate for a fee increase, even though he had asked for a report examining how other cities fund storm-water costs.

 

“We are going to be looking at how we can save money and do things efficiently,” Faulconer said.

 

Councilman Todd Gloria, who represents an inland district, said he's open to considering revenue options such as fee increases.

 

“I don't believe that we can continue to balance our budget by only telling San Diegans they can live with fewer municipal services, like library hours and park programming,” Gloria said.

 

The report by San Diego's independent budget analyst shows that California cities rely on a mishmash of revenue streams to fund storm-water programs. Besides storm-water fees, they raise money via hotel taxes, property assessments, bond measures and trash fees.

 

In Santa Monica, for example, voters approved an annual parcel tax of $84 in 2006 to supplement an existing storm-water fee of $36 per year. In Los Angeles, homeowners pay a $23 annual storm-water-abatement charge and an average of $35 per year in property assessment to pay off a $500 million clean-water bond measure.

 

Bruce Reznik, executive director of San Diego Coastkeeper, said there's consensus in the environmental community that storm-water fees need to be raised. But he added that now isn't the time.

 

“San Diego has historically been fairly anti-tax,” Reznik said. “You've got a horrifically bad economy on top of it, and people are more reticent than ever about raising taxes.” #

 

http://www3.signonsandiego.com/stories/2009/mar/15/1m15storm00735-drop-bucket/?zIndex=67327

 

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