Wednesday, September 24, 2003
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Wednesday, September 24, 2003 |
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Fayetteville residents might pay $3 a month for stormwater improvements By JOHN
MUNFORD
To help finance improvements to Fayetteville's stormwater drainage system and a three-man crew to maintain the system city officials plan to issue $1.6 million in revenue bonds later this year so the money will be available immediately. To repay those bonds, the city will be charging a stormwater fee on the water and sewer bills of residential, business and commercial customers. Homes will be assessed a fixed fee of $2.95 a month under the proposal presented to the Fayetteville City Council Thursday night. Businesses and commercial users would be assessed on a scale based on the amount of impervious surface on its property. For example, a business like Wendy's would pay less than $15, Fayetteville First Methodist Church would pay $94 and Fayette Community Hospital would pay $315, officials said. The upside of using the revenue bond financing is that the funds will be available almost immediately in case one or several stormwater projects need to be fast tracked, officials said. The city will also use the bond issue to start up a storm drainage maintenance program with a three-person crew, said City Engineer Don Easterbrook. There is also some money in the budget to fund the evaluation of individual homes with stormwater drainage problems, Easterbrook added. Mayor Ken Steele said the city has been working on this plan for several years and officials want to "address the need and problem as economically as possible." For a number of residents whose homes were flooded in June, however, that was little solace. Addressing the City Council, many said the repairs needed to be done immediately and not several months down the road because they can't afford to clean up from another flood. Some speakers said they had spent in the thousands of dollars to repair their homes after the June flood that was sparked by heavy rains. The first area to be addressed in the stormwater improvement program will be Circle Drive, and engineering work on that project has already begun with construction set for February, officials said. The city will also make improvements to the East Fayetteville basin, the Medford Manor area and to areas downstream of Pye Lake in the Gingercake Creek basin. The revenue bonds would be financed over 20 years, meaning the stormwater fee would last at least that long, said Councilman Larry Dell.
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