Stormwater fees could get much more expensive for many of Alexandria's homeowners, if a pending proposal passes City Council next month.
In Tuesday’s City Council Legislative session that stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning, City staff presented plans to increase the stormwater utility fee for Alexandria residents.
Utility fees would double, from $140 to $280 a year for single-family homeowners, with varying increases over the next ten years that ultimately reaches $540 per home and creates $283.8 million in additional resources.
The stormwater fee increase has been a hot topic among Alexandria residents, particularly those who have experienced flooding during heavy rainfall events over the past two years.
A dozen members of the public spoke at Tuesday’s meeting, asking that City Council not accept the first draft of the stormwater utility fee and flood mitigation action plan. Most of the public speakers had less of a problem with the amount of the increase and more of a problem with how the collected fees would be spent.
Sheriff Dana Lawhorne expressed his frustration over how the current stormwater utility fee has been spent since its adoption in 2018.
“In 2019, only 12 percent of the capital expenditures went to street flooding and only 28 percent in 2020. Most of it went to the mandated clean water act initiatives. I’m all for the clean water, but I thought we would get a fair share of that pie, but we didn’t,” Lawhorne said.
Another resident, George Demetriades, said, regarding City leadership, “The trust is gone.”
In a post dated Jan. 9 in the Facebook group “Bring Integrity Back to Alexandria!” Vineeta Anand urged residents to ask City Council for more time to make the following revisions to the stormwater utility fee and flood mitigation action plan:
- “Specifically, details of the cost and the timetable for completing each project.
- Put the storm water fees in a “lockbox” overseen by an independent board of trustees consisting of residents who have experienced flooding to ensure the fee is spent on remedial bricks and mortar projects to curb flooding and not on staff salaries.
- To ensure that, we’re asking that the City Council to codify in its city code that the storm water fee should be spent on “capacity” projects not the Clean Water Act initiatives.
- Require developers to pay a fee into a special fund to ensure adequate infrastructure for projects, especially where it is well known that there are issues.
- Issue bonds to speed up financing for large projects so they can start sooner.”
Many of the speakers echoed these demands in their public comments, asking for more short-term solutions and guarantees that the money collected will be used to mitigate urgent flooding issues quickly.
Following a presentation by Transportation and Environmental Services Director Yon Lambert, City Council spent a significant amount of time discussing the projects presented in the plan. The majority of council members seemed to realize the frustration expressed by residents, the urgency of the problem and the need for transparency.
Ultimately, a motion spearheaded by Councilwoman Amy Jackson and seconded by Councilman Mohamed E. “Mo” Seifeldein to reintroduce the plan at City Council’s next legislative meeting on Jan. 26 passed.
This would allow time to resolve issues with the plan, get additional public input and postpone the vote until a public hearing in February. The motion passed six to one with Mayor Justin Wilson in opposition.
