Peachtree City is estimating its new stormwater program will cost more than $550,000 for the coming year.

To pay for that cost, the city is planning to implement a stormwater utility that will result in residents of single family detached homes paying a monthly fee of either $2.69, $3.95 or $6 depending on the amount of impervious surface on the site. The total impervious surface on a site includes any buildings, any paved parking lot or driveway, and other improvements on the site that don’t allow water to seep into the ground.

City officials are planning to mail out the first stormwater utility bills in February. But the ordinance creating the utility must first be approved by the City Council.

Under the city staff proposal, residents of single family attached homes will be charged a flat rate of $1.85 a month, unless the subdivision has private streets, and in that case, the city will bill the homeowners association for a cost between $1.91 and $2.30 per unit per month.

Non-residential property — including property that is tax-exempt — will also be billed for the utility, with an assessment charged at $3.95 for each 4,600 sq. ft. of impervious surface on the site. For example, the Wal-Mart store will be charged $614 a month and McIntosh High School will be charged $553. The much smaller Ruby Tuesday’s restaurant would only be assessed $43 a month.

Those figures do not include “credits” that can be calculated to account for on-site stormwater detention and other factors.

The city plans to use a private company to send and collect the stormwater bills. Non-commercial parcels will be billed each month, and residential parcels will be billed each quarter.

The city’s stormwater system includes detention ponds, pipes, inlets, catch basins and various streams and creeks. Officials have developed a system of prioritizing stormwater projects based on criteria including health and safety risks, flood control, ease of construction, stream stability/water quality and estimated construction costs.

That capital project list totals $2.5 million, which would be funded by a revenue bond or loan to expedite repairs, officials said.

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