Politics & Government

Storm Water Utility Could Cost Homeowners $400 Per Year

Village Board moves forward with plan to create new utility to pay for millions in sewer improvements.

Most Whitefish Bay homeowners would pay about $400 per year to help pay for storm sewer improvements, if the village goes forward with creating a new storm water utility.

The Village Board Monday took a step toward the creation of the utility that will be used to fund an annual average of $2.35 million in storm sewer improvements over the next 15 years.

The village has spent about $816,000 per year on storm water improvements over the last four years, and the approved 15-year capital improvement plan would nearly triple the village's annual expenditures. 

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The village's ability to raise property taxes is limited by state levy limits, so a storm water utility would allow the village to fund those planned sewer improvements. But unlike property taxes, residents are not able to deduct fees from their income taxes.

In approving the first phase of a storm water utility, trustees directed the village's financial consultant to prepare cost estimates for funding the improvements wholly through the storm water utility, as well as funding 75 percent and 50 percent of the expenses through the utility and borrowing the remaining funds through bonds.

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How costs are calculated

Residents would be billed based on the amount of impervious area on their lots. Impervious areas includes the house, patio, driveway and other areas that do not soak up rainwater. The street and front sidewalk are not included in the calculations.

Most Whitefish Bay homes have roughly 3,045 square feet of impervious surface, which would equate to about a $400 bill.

Based on the same formula, the Whitefish Bay School District could see an annual storm water utility bill of roughly $95,279 for its multiple buildings; Holy Family would be billed $16,380; the Jewish Community Center would be billed $51,546; and the village would bill itself $47,669.

"The equitability is that everybody who gets rained on, pays," Village Manager Patrick DeGrave said.

Trustees still have to decide the amount funded through the storm water utility and through borrowing. The board could still reverse course on the storm water utility at this point, but would be unable to do so if the board decides to implement the storm water utility in July.

Resident voices concerns

Hollywood Avenue resident Magdalena Kolosovsky said she was concerned about the cost of the storm water utility bill, in addition to an assessment for her street's reconstruction and the private sanitary sewer lateral lining project in Basin 1203.

"As a property owner, I have to pay $6,000 to $12,000 because I'm fortunate enough to live on Hollywood, and now I will have to come probably back and do a sump pump at a later time," she said. "In addition to that I have an additional $400 in yearly cost associated with the water utility, and the fact that our water rates doubled last year, and the increased cost to the buisnesses, and the increased cost to my parish, and the increased cost to the schools, and the increased cost to the village."

Cramer Street resident Meredith Scrivner said she feels the board has put together an equitable plan, and she feels the cost of a flood far exceeds the cost of repairing the village's sewers.

"If one portion of Whitefish Bay has houses that flood and can't sell, it hurts all of Whitefish Bay," she said. "We're all in it together."


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