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To the Mayor and Members of •
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SUBJECT: RESPONSE
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In response to questions asked at the March 28, 2006 Pre - council meeting concerning storm water
fees, we have provided the following information:
1. Why does a property owner have to pay anything when their land drains directly into the lake?
Property that drains exclusively into a lake, river, creek or other water body that is not part of the
city's storm water system will not be charged storm water fees in accordance with state law. These
exceptions will be relatively few and will be identified as the city's storm water billing system is
completed. However, most developed properties that abut a lake, river or creek also have a portion of
the property that drains into the city's storm water system and would be charged a storm water utility
fee.
2. How does the City's rate structure, based on square feet of living area, correlate with
impervious area for single-family residential properties?
There are many methods to bill residential properties. We could have chosen zoning, location in the
drainage basin, lot size, or property values as some communities have done. We also could have
simply used a flat residential rate for all single - family properties. However, we felt that dividing
properties into four tiers would better reflect the wide range in impervious cover that actually exists.
We also determined early in the evaluation of this program that impervious surface is the best estimate
of the impact a property has on the storm water system and subsequently recommended that the rate
structure correlate as much as possible to impervious surface.
The best way to determine the impervious surface for each property would be to physically survey
every parcel. We are doing just that for non- residential properties (about 20,000 parcels). However,
physical measurement of all residential properties (about 180,000 parcels) would be impractical and
very expensive. If we measured every parcel, the required revenue to fund this continuing operation
would have required substantially higher rates.
In an efftwit to keep the dates as low as possible, state explored alter _at ve methods to charge
appropriate fees to residential properties:. The goal was to correlate the residential rates as much as
possible to impervious surface while at the same time ending up with a simple, functional billing
system. We testers several alte atives and determined that the most practical method would be to use
data that is already readily available on the Tarrant Appraisal District (TAD) database. The team then
developed a formula for determining fees baked upon, a comparison of various ways to estimate
tnv€s. ;e., . io-u ; c ` ', e ., s-I g AD pr E.-.pee iy data- after e f nsi e analysis, living _ s ce and the number O
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ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH. TEXAS
INFORMAL REPORT TO CITY COUNCIL MEMBERS
No. 8758
To the Mayor and Members of the City Council
April 4, 2006
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Page 2 of 2
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SUBJECT: RESPONSE TO STORM WATER QUESTIONS
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The key message we will continue to communicate to our citizens is that impervious surface was
indeed the original foundation for our rate structure for all properties but, at the end of the evaluation
process, living area and garage spaces were selected to set residential rates.
These and similar questions are being raised as the public becomes more aware of the system and fee
structure. An aggressive outreach program using advertising, neighborhood meetings, water bill
inserts, articles in city resources and general media cover will be used over the next few months to
provide citizens with the more information.
On a similar note, the Transportation and Public Works department has prepared an implementation
plan for the Storm Water Utility . Staff will report back to the council on these and other activities in
the next few months:
• Utility Start-Up
• Billing system status
• Public Education and Outreach
• CIP design progress
• Watershed studies
• Infrastructure inventory and condition assessment
• Utility Staffing
• Equipment Replacement Purchases
• Citizen response to new storm water utility and fees
Charles R. Boswell
City Manager
ISSUED BY THE CITY MANAGER FORT WORTH, TEXAS