Establishing Stormwater Management Utility Fee Rates under City of Dubuque Code of Ordinances for Fiscal Year 2025 Copyrighted
April 15, 2024
City of Dubuque Action Items # 05.
City Council Meeting
ITEM TITLE: Establishing Stormwater Management Utility Fee Rates under City of
Dubuque Code of Ordinances for Fiscal Year 2025
SUM MARY: City Manager recommending City Council adopt an ordinance
establishing the stormwater management utility fee rates under City of
Dubuque Code of Ordinances for Fiscal Year 2025.Additional
information is located in the City Manager's memo for Public Hearing #4.
ORDINANCE Amending City of Dubuque Code of Ordinances Section
13-4-5 (D) SFU Rate, Charges; Utility Revenues
SUGGESTED Suggested Disposition: Receive and File; Motion B; MotionA
DISPOSITION:
ATTACHMENTS:
Description Type
Staff Memo Staff Memo
Ordinance Ordinance
Dubuque
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TO: Michael C. Van Milligen, City Manager
FROM: Gus Psihoyos, City Engineer
SUBJECT: Stormwater Management Utility Fee Rate Change
DATE: April 10, 2024
INTRODUCTION
The purpose of this memo is to outline a recommendation to modify Section 13-4-5 (D)
of the Code of Ordinances, thereby adjusting the stormwater utility fee rate as proposed
with the Fiscal Year 2025 budget.
BACKGROUND
In February of 2003, Ordinance 7-03 was passed establishing a Stormwater Management
Utility and established the associated user fee. Even after establishing the stormwater
utility fee, stormwater management activities were funded from several sources: 15%
from the stormwater utility fee, 22% from property taxes, 5% from sales tax, and 58%
from DRA distribution funds. Beginning with the adoption of the FY2009 budget, the
Stormwater Management Utility has been a self-supporting enterprise fund — all
stormwater management activities have been funded exclusively by the stormwater
management utility and permit fees.
To fund the operational and capital costs of the public stormwater management system,
including improvements such as the multi-phase Bee Branch Watershed Flood Mitigation
Project, the City Council adopted Ordinance 21-12 which established that the stormwater
utility fee would increase to $9.00 per month on July 1, 2016. Subsequently, the lowa
General Assembly created the Flood Mitigation Program which provides funding for flood
mitigation projects undertaken by approved local governments such as the City of
Dubuque. Having updated the Drainage Basin Master Plan in the fall of 2013, which
outlined the improvements associated with the 12-phase Bee Branch Watershed Flood
Mitigation Project, the City was successful in securing $98.5 million in State sales tax
increment funding. With the infusion of funding, the City Council adopted Ordinance 16-
14 in March of 2014 establishing that the stormwater utility fee would not reach $9.00 per
month until July 1, 2021. The City was able to provide stormwater management services
each fiscal year thereafter within the rate structure established by Ordinance 16-14.
However, due to the uncertain economic impacts of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the
planned increase for FY21 was delayed. With the adoption of the FY23 budget, the rate
reached $9.00 per month, seven years later than previously scheduled.
In March of 2023, the City Council adopted Ordinance 14-23 establishing the Stormwater
Management Utility Rate at $10.00 for a single-family home for FY24.
DISCUSSION
Fiscal Year 2025 will be the eighteenth fiscal year that the City's stormwater management
needs are recommended to be fully funded by stormwater user fees. The stormwater user
fees provide funding to comply with the National Pollution Discharge Elimination System
(NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) permit, operate and maintain
existing stormwater management infrastructure, and implement the various drainage and
flood mitigation improvements in both the Catfish Creek and Bee Branch watersheds.
Between 1999 and 2011, there were six Presidential Disaster Declarations which
impacted the Bee Branch Creek Watershed. The Drainage Basin Master Plan was
completed and adopted by the City Council in 2001. It identified a flood-prone area with
over 1,000 properties. And according to a subsequent study in 2009 by the Federal
Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), there are 1,373 properties in the flood prone,
at-risk area. In addition to homes, there are over 70 businesses in the at-risk area
with over $500 million in annual sales. The flood prone area in the Bee Branch
Watershed encompasses historic neighborhoods offering some of the community's most
affordable workforce housing. Most residents are working families, many are elderly --
those least likely to recover from repetitive flood loss. Repetitive flood damage leads to
disinvestment: from 2004 to 2009, while commercial property values grew by 39%
citywide, they fell by 6% in the Bee Branch Watershed flood prone area. The
improvements in the Bee Branch Watershed are part of the multi-phased, fiscally
responsible, holistic Bee Branch Watershed Flood Mitigation Project which will mitigate
flooding, improve water quality, stimulate investment, and enhance the quality of life.
The City has been able to garner support from local, state, and federal partners with over
$169 million in outside funding to help offset the cost of the overall $250 million Bee
Branch Watershed Flood Mitigation Project. With support from its partners, the City has
made steady progress towards completion of the various project phases. The Bee Branch
Watershed Flood Mitigation Project phases and status are as follows:
Phase Descr�ptian Status
1 Carter Road Detenkian Basin Complete
2 UVest�2nd Stre�t Detentian Basin Complete
3 Historic faiillwark District Complete
d Lower Bee Branch Creek Restaratian Complete
5 Fload A�iikigation�ate 8 Pump Replacement Under Design
6 Imperviaus SurFace Reductian �J�of alleys canverted ta"Green Alleys��
7 Upper Bee Branch Creek R�staratianfRailraad Culverts Complete
8 22nd �treet�tarm�ewer Impravements Camplete from Elm Streetta N_ falain
9 Fload fuiikigatian Maintenanoe Pacility �ite�IeanuplPreparakian
1� Narth End Storm Sewer Improvements Initiate Oesign in 2028
11 Water Plsnt Flood Protection Inikiate Design in 2024
1� 17kh �treet Storm Sewer Improvements Complete iram Elm �t. to Heeb St.
While the risk of flash flooding remains until all improvements are implemented, progress
on each phase lessens the threat of flash flood damage. When complete, it is expected
to prevent an estimated $582 million in damages over its 100-year design life.
One of the more significant phases in terms of flood mitigation benefits provided is Phase
V, the Flood Mitigation Gate & Pump Replacement Project. This project, also referred to
as the Bee Branch Stormwater Pumping Station Project, involves construction of a new
pump station that includes the following elements:
• New flood gates;
• Replacement of the two existing flood pumps with four new pumps;
• Replacement and updating of the electrical service to current standards; and
• Installation of a back-up generator for the additional pumps to address the needed
resiliency being demanded by the storms of recent years.
The new flood gates will be constructed on the basin side of the levee (on the west side
of Kerper Boulevard) which allows for the pumps to operate more efficiently, eliminates
the environmental concerns associated with the Higgins Eye Clams found on the river
side of the levee, and allows for operation of the existing facility to maintain flood
protection during construction of the new facility. Instead of utilizing the two existing
90,000 gallons per minute (gpm) pumps that are more than 50 years old, the new facility
will have four 90,000 gpm pumps. This allows for redundancy in the event of a pump
failure. In concert with the Bee Branch Creek Restoration Project (including the Bee
Branch Railroad Culverts Project), the proposed project improvements will provide a
system that can accommodate the flooding that occurred between 1999 and 2011 —
flooding that has resulted in six presidential disaster declarations due to public and private
property damage, flooding that has impacted more than 1,300 homes and businesses. It
also provides for additional resiliency options as rainstorms increase in both depth and
intensity.
The proposed FY25-29 budget includes $16,839,000 in funding for the Bee Branch Gate
& Pump Replacement Project. Along with the funding in FY24 budget and a $7.7 million
EDA grant awarded in the fall of 2023, the proposed funding plan for the $28,158,400
project is as follows:
Federal EDA Grant $7,700,000
State Sales Tax Increment $8,254,445
Stormwater User Fees $1,664,964
DRA Distribution $1,400,000
State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan $9,138,991
$28,158,400
This funding plan would allow for construction of the improvements to start in the fall of
2024. It also would require a 15% stormwater user fee rate increase. But since the original
recommendation was presented reflecting the 15% rate increase, H.R. 2882, the "Further
Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2024" was signed into law which included an
$8,000,000 FEMA Community Project appropriation for the "Dubuque Flood Mitigation
Gates and Pumps" project. The additional grant funding reducing the need for SRF debt
and allows for the funding plan as follows:
Federal EDA Grant $7,700,000
Federal FEMA Grant $8,000,000
State Sales Tax Increment $8,254,445
Stormwater User Fees $1,664,964
DRA Distribution $1,400,000
State Revolving Fund (SRF) Loan $1,138,991
$28,158,400
The revised funding plan, made possible by the additional FEMA Community Project
funding, allows for reducing the proposed rate increase in FY25 from 15% down to 5%.
Therefore, the proposed rate for FY25 involves an increase from $10.00 to $10.50 per
month for the average homeowner.
RECOMMENDATION
I recommend amending the City Code of Ordinances to establish the Stormwater Utility
Fee rate for FY25 at $10.50.
BUDGET IMPACT
The proposed rate increase to $10.50 per month for the average homeowner in FY25.
ACTION TO BE TAKEN
I respectfully request passing the attached ordinance amending Section 13-4-5 (D) of
the City Code of Ordinances to establish the stormwater management utility fee rate at
$10.50 starting July 1, 2024.
Attach.
Prepared by Deron Muehring
cc: Jenny Larson, Chief Financial Officer
Crenna Brumwell, City Attorney
Prepared by: Crenna M. Brumwell, Esq. 300 Main Street Suite 330 Dubuque IA 52001 563 589-4113
ORDINANCE NO. 14-24
AMENDING CITY OF DUBUQUE CODE OF ORDINANCES SECTION 13-4-5 (D)
SFU RATE, CHARGES; UTILITY REVENUES
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA:
Section 1. That City of Dubuque Code of Ordinances Section 13-4-5 is
amended to read as follows:
(D) The SFU rate to be applied to residential and nonresidential properties
shall be $10.50 per SFU.
Section 2. This Ordinance shall take effect on the 1 st day of July, 2024.
Passed, approved and adopted this 15th day of April 2024.
rad . C- -agh, Mayor
Attest:
Adrienne Breitfelder, C C City Clerk
STATE OF IOWA SS:
DUBUQUE COUNTY
CERTIFICATE OF PUBLICATION
I, Kathy Goetzinger, a Billing Clerk for Woodward
Communications, Inc., an Iowa corporation, publisher
of the Telegraph Herald, a newspaper of general
circulation published in the City of Dubuque, County
of Dubuque and State of Iowa; hereby certify that the
attached notice was published in said newspaper on the
following dates:
05/02/2024
and for which the charge is 12.42
Subscribed to before me, a Notary Public in and for
Dubuque County, Iowa,
this 2nd day of May, 2024
Notary Pu
P1 At
c
z
oyyh
n and for Dubuque County, Iowa.
JANET K. PAPE
Commission Number 199659
My Commission Expires
12/11/2025
Ad text :
CITY OF DUBUQUE
OFFICIAL PUBLICATION
ORDINANCE NO. 14-24
AMENDING CITY OF DUBUQUE CODE OF ORDINANCES SECTION 13-4-5
(D) SFU RATE, CHARGES; UTILITY REVENUES
NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT ORDAINED BY THE CITY COUNCIL OF THE
CITY OF DUBUQUE, IOWA:
Section 1. That City of Dubuque Code of Ordinances Section
13-4-5 is amended to read as follows:
(D)"The SFU rate to be applied to residential and
nonresidential properties shall be $10.50 per SFU.
Section 2. This Ordinance shall take effect on the 1st day
of July, 2024.
Passed, approved and adopted this 15th day of April
2024.
/s/Brad M. Cavanagh, Mayor
Attest: /s/Adrienne N. Breitfelder, City Clerk
Published officially in the Telegraph Herald newspaper on
the 2nd day of May, 2024.
/s/Adrienne N. Breitfelder, CMC, City Clerk
1t 5/2