Storm drain costs to hit Petaluma

The city is eying a fee increase for a state-mandated infrastructure upgrade to keep pollutants out of waterways.|

Petaluma faces costly requirements for upgrading the city’s storm water drains, and residents may be asked to pay higher fees to fund new state-mandated programs.

The State Water Board recently required that cities implement new trash capture mechanisms and conduct public outreach and education on keeping pollution out of storm water. The city must outline a game plan by December 2018, and measures must be implemented within 10 years, officials said Monday. The state is not providing funds to help cities meet these requirements.

To achieve those goals, the city will need almost $750,000 in additional funding next fiscal year, with an additional $1.7 million annually needed by fiscal year 2023-24, according to preliminary staff estimates. Current storm water funding is draining the city’s already lagging general fund, said Dan St. John, Petaluma’s director of public works and utilities. The city also needs cash for deferred maintenance on aging storm water infrastructure, which includes 43-miles of storm drain pipes.

“We know what the regulators expect, and we know how they treat us when we don’t do what they expect,” he said. “It puts us in a bind.”

The city is exploring its options, which could include installing more than 900 devices to capture trash in various drain inlets. In the next year, staff will also examine other methods, including changing parking rules, potentially posting signs prohibiting parking on certain streets within specified hours for street sweeping to allow for a more effective cleaning of storm drains.

“We had to decide right away if we were just going to pursue track one and just install all these devices, or track two, where were going to try to demonstrate equivalent means of doing this,” Environmental Services Manager Leah Walker said at a Monday workshop. “Those equivalent methods include street sweeping, public outreach, cleaning days, trash receptacles, etc. ... We chose track two. We didn’t want to commit financially to those devices but we think it’s going to be some combination.”

Charging a new storm water fee, which St. John described as a common practice in cities such as Santa Rosa and Vallejo, could be a funding option. A $7.50 monthly fee could generate $2.5 million a year, he said.

“It’s very similar to sewer and water, it’s a property-related fee,” St. John said. “The concept is you own the property ... that storm water is your storm water, just like the sewer is your sewer. You pay so we can manage it.”

A complicated maze of legal framework must be navigated as the city studies fees, St. John said. It could also examine the rates it charges residents for water, refuse and sewer to see if those currently include money for storm water costs and if they can be tweaked to account for the new mandate.

New fees or increases would be subject to Prop. 218 requirements, which requires noticing, a written protest period and public meetings before fees are levied. The city will also work with the regional flood control agency to ensure taxes collected from residents are used for city maintenance.

Managing storm water is also beneficial to flood control and prevention, weeding out trash from waterways, enhancing water quality and wetland environments, protecting sewer facilities from overflow and increasing the use of recycled water after rainwater is captured, St. John said.

City Councilman Gabe Kearney said cars and other objects often stop street sweepers from reaching curbs and storm drain inlets.

“That might be something we can look at doing something about sooner than later,” he said, adding that additional revenue could be gained from citations on vehicles flouting the rules.

City Councilwoman Kathy Miller said a small fee increase and other methods, such as examining parking practices, could help.

“I think if it’s explained to people properly, it can be a fairly nominal fee included in your water and sewer bill,” she said.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com.)

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