Sacramento property owners will soon pay higher stormwater fees after approving ballot measure
Sacramento property owners will soon spend more on their city stormwater fee bills.
About 52% of property owners in a mail-in election approved a measure allowing the fee increase, Utilities Director Bill Busath told the City Council at its meeting Tuesday.
“You did this well,” Mayor Darrell Steinberg told Busath Tuesday. “You took it to the people in the right way and you’re delivering infrastructure, a lot of jobs, and it will be good for a lot of generations to come.”
The city will increase the fee for most single-family homeowners by about $70 per year, from about $135 to $205 per year, based on the size of impervious surfaces.
The increase will bring in about $20 million in new revenue to the city to repair and improve the city’s 100-year-old stormwater system, according to the city.
More specifically, it would be used to protect drinking water quality; keep chemicals, sewage and human waste out of rivers and creeks; prevent sewage and human waste from overflowing onto neighborhood streets; replace deteriorating pumps that prevent flooding; and repair aging water pipelines and infrastructure, the web page said.
Unlike yard waste fee increases, which the council enacted last month, stormwater fee increases require a ballot measure, according to state law.
The city last increased the fee in 1996.
Property owners who are unable to afford the bill can apply for assistance under the city’s Stormwater Utility Rate Assistance program.
This story was originally published April 13, 2022 at 12:45 PM.
