Geneva considering stormwater utility

Geneva aldermen Monday will discuss spending $64,000 on a study to see if creating a stormwater utility is a good idea.

Administrators have recommended hiring Hawksley Consulting/Baxter and Woodman of Tampa, Florida, to do the study.

The study would cover the legal, financial and administrative aspects of creating a utility; assess the existing system; review the tributary watershed; assess the current maintenance of stormwater sewers; say what maintenance is needed; assess flood-prone areas; and suggest projects.

The firm has done similar studies for Downers Grove, Wheaton and South Elgin.

Geneva pays for stormwater sewage handling out of its general fund (unlike sanitary sewage treatment, for which water customers pay). So the storm sewage system competes for money with other city projects, such as street maintenance or policing. Money in a utility fund, however, is to be spent only on that utility.

Some towns with stormwater utilities charge fees to landowners to fund drainage work.

Downers Grove was the first in DuPage County to do a stormwater utility, in 2012. It charges monthly fees based on how much of a property is covered in an impervious surface, including roofs, driveways, parking lots, swimming pools, patios and decks. The fees are $2.92 for a vacant parcel of any kind; $7.29 to $14.58 for single-family houses with less than 7,000 square feet of impervious surface; and $9.72 per equivalent runoff unit for other parcels. An equivalent runoff unit is equal to 3,300 square feet of impervious surface.

A stormwater utility has been recommended for Batavia, but the city council has not created one.

The council meets as a committee of the whole at 7 p.m. at city hall, 22 James St.