County stormwater user fee increase moves forward
Nov. 28—GOSHEN — Plans to increase Elkhart County's stormwater user fee took another step forward Monday during a meeting of the Elkhart County Stormwater Board.
At the meeting, an ordinance was approved calling for an increase to the stormwater user fee assessed biannually on county property tax bills. The vote followed similar action by the Goshen Stormwater Board during the board's Nov. 21 meeting.
The Elkhart County Stormwater Board, which is made up of the three county commissioners and the county surveyor, also serves as the board of the Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership, which is composed of the governments of the city of Elkhart, the city of Goshen, Elkhart County and the town of Bristol.
The Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership is "a cooperative effort to implement the Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System (MS4) plan" of the four governmental entities, the board's website notes.
That plan includes six minimum control measures and outlines programs to improve the quality of stormwater that runs off of the land and into rivers, lakes and streams. They include: public education and outreach; public participation and involvement; illicit discharge detection and elimination; construction site stormwater run-off management; post-construction stormwater run-off control; and good housekeeping and pollution prevention.
Established in 2006 at a rate of $1.25 per month, or $15 per year, the stormwater user fee goes toward funding the work of the partnership in helping to implement the MS4 plan.
According to Jason Kauffman, stormwater coordinator for Goshen, each member of the partnership has a say in how much the stormwater user fee is, and all must agree and pass legislation within their respective governments before the user fee can be increased.
Kauffman noted that the county partnership's stormwater user fee has not been increased since its establishment in 2006, and as such is currently one of the lowest in the region, and well below the state average of $5.74 a month, or $68.88 per year.
As an example, it was noted that Nappanee currently charges a monthly stormwater fee of $1.95; South Bend charges a $2 monthly fee; Warsaw charges $4.90; Fort Wayne charges $5.90; and Winona Lake charges $7.
Given that the fee rate has never been adjusted, the partnership recently approached advisory CPA firm Baker Tilly to conduct a stormwater user fee assessment.
Per that assessment, the partnership as a whole currently brings in about $2.6 million annually in stormwater user fees, while its annual funding needs come to about $3.7 million — a $1.1 million shortfall.
As such, the firm recommended raising the stormwater user fee to $3 a month, which in turn would meet the requirements for each stormwater department to move forward and to continue to do what they are needing to do for their communities.
As proposed, the plan would be to gradually increase the user fee to $3 per month over three phases beginning with the billing in the calendar years of 2023, 2026 and 2029. That change would increase the county's annual $15 stormwater fee to $22.05 in 2023, $29.10 in 2026 and finally $36.10 in 2029.
With its approval Monday by the Elkhart County Stormwater Board, the county's ordinance calling for the user fee increase will now move forward for final consideration by the Elkhart County Council.
In addition, it was noted that the other partners of the Greater Elkhart County Stormwater Partnership will also be presenting the fee increase recommendation to their respective boards and councils in the coming weeks, all of which must agree on the increase before it can be implemented.
John Kline can be reached at john.kline@goshennews.com or 574-533-2151, ext. 240315. Follow John on Twitter @jkline_TGN.
