St. Charles residents may be forced to pay new utility fee

Flood protection may soon come at an extra cost for St. Charles residents. City officials are investigating the creation of a new stormwater management fee all residents would be forced to pay on their monthly utility bill.

Right now it costs the city about $2.2 million a year to repair storm sewers, sweep the streets so gutters don't clog and operate the city's sump pump connection program. All that cash comes out of the city's general fund, which is the main checkbook for the city. Pressure on that fund from dwindling sales taxes and increased city staff salary costs makes it increasingly difficult for the city to find money for construction projects that can ease chronically flooded areas. City staff believe creating the new fee could take heat off the general fund and create a dedicated source of new cash to fund such projects.

But not everyone on the city council is a fan. Ward 4 Alderman Jim Martin said now is not the time to hit residents up for more money.

"Speaking for the thousands of senior citizens and the unemployed, all I need is one more utility fee," Martin said. "I can't see it. I will vote no all the way through."

City staff is paying a consultant to help them figure out the best formula to use for figuring out how much each landowner would pay in a fee. Staff said the amount of the fee would be based on the amount of stormwater runoff each property creates. Generally, the more impervious surface (due to pavement or buildings), the higher the fee. Single-family homeowners are projected to pay somewhere between $4 and $6 more a month if the city council approves the new fee. That would add up to $75 in new fees the average resident would pay the city each year.

Homeowners would not be the only targets of the new fee. Businesses, churches and other nonprofits, and even other taxing bodies such as the school and park district would pay the fee under the current plan. Owners of empty lots with only grass would pay the fee as even property with no impervious surface creates some stormwater runoff, according to city officials.

City Administrator Brian Townsend said residents should not look at the fee as a new tax because the money from the stormwater fee will be directly tied to the costs of providing stormwater flood protection and drainage improvements.