The city of El Paso, Texas, recently increased its storm water utility fees, and officials have responded to property owners' angry reactions by lowering the fees.
"We're going to go back and look at this thing," said Ed Archuleta, president and chief executive officer of El Paso Water Utilities. "I told the board let's wait for all the public meetings. We have three more next week. We're already looking at different options. I think we can tweak this thing."
The storm water utility has budgeted for $8 million in maintenance and about $12 million in aggressive capital improvement projects. In order to reduce the fees, capital improvement projects may have to be cut back.
Archuleta said that Public Service Board members will also reconsider their decision not to cut owners of runoff-reducing pond areas a rate break. "We're going to be re-evaluating all that to see if [we can] give credit for onsite ponds," he said.
Owners of homes 2,000 to 3,000 sq ft in area saw a $4.75 increase in their storm water bills in April. Business owners, school districts, churches and other nonresidential properties saw charges increase by hundreds of dollars, sometimes more than $1,000; nonresidential owners are being charged $4.85 for every 2,000 sq ft of impermeable area on the property.
"The fees that businesses are getting are just astronomical," said Gerald Miller, head of the El Paso Car Dealers Association. "They can't afford it. They have to pass it on to their customers."
Representatives of car dealers, restaurant associations and other community organizations have attended local forums and been described as so angry about the fee hikes that, were in not for the public location, they might have turned violent.
Source: Newspaper Tree
