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Storm Water Utility

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1. What is a Storm Water Utility?

A storm water utility is responsible for funding the operation, construction, and maintenance of the City's storm water infrastructure, and for storm water system planning. A storm water utility generates its revenue through user fees very much like a wastewater utility funds the City's sanitary sewer and wastewater treatment system. The fee is based on the amount of storm water a particular parcel passes to the storm water system. In general, the more runoff a parcel contributes, the greater the fee.

2. Why does the City need storm water management?

The Federal Clean Water Act and the State of WI Department of Natural Resources are requiring the City to make changes in the way it regulates and handles storm water. Failure to adequately manage the City's storm water system increases the risk of flooding, affects the operation of other utilities, most notably the sanitary sewer system, increases soil erosion, and threatens the quality of surface waters and the environment.

3. What is the fee based upon?

There is a strong correlation between the impervious ground cover (pavement, roofs, etc.) on a property and the amount of storm water runoff and pollution that property generates, therefore, impervious area is the "meter" used to measure storm water system "use" in a storm water utility. As more impervious cover is created there is proportionally less vegetation and less soil area for the absorption of of rainfall. The City has used detailed maps, aerial photos, and site plans to determine the amount of impervious cover that exists on each parcel and determine fees. Non-residential parcels are billed according to their measured impervious area. Residential parcels are billed according to the number of living units based on the average impervious area associated with a single living unit in the City of Monroe.

4. Isn't this just another tax?

No, the fee is similar to the routine water and sewer fees currently paid by all contributing customers. This fee, by incorporating tax-exempt properties, actually reduces the overall cost to taxpayers. The storm water fee is based on the percentage of impervious area on a parcel and applies to both taxable and non-taxable properties.