BY ROD ZOOK
Hutch Post
HUTCHINSON, Kan. — At the request of the city council the issue of stormwater utility rates will be addressed during a special study session. The fee has been in place since 2016 to help fund flood control and storm sewer infrastructure projects. Brian Clennan with Hutchinson Public Works thinks that an assessment of the city fees is a good idea.
“We look at our water rates, we look at our sewer rates, and I think it’s a good idea to look at our stormwater rates,” Clennan said. “We should see what that rate should be and what level of service we want to provide to our community from a maintenance standpoint and from a future floor reduction standpoint.”
While the council was not willing to eliminate the fee, they were in consensus that maybe it could be adjusted to make the city more business friendly. Clennan says the city took into account what their fee structure should look like compared with other cities when it was implemented.
“I know that was evaluated when we implemented the stormwater utility and compared how ours fit in with others ,” Clennan said. “I do believe we were on the lower to mid end.”
At that time, there were a number of cities that had higher stormwater utility fees than Hutchinson. The Kansas City suburb of Mission topped the list with a rate of $19 an ERU (Equivalent Residency Unit). Lenexa and McPherson had rates above $7 a month. Newton, Liberal, Ark City, and Shawnee were above $6 per month. Manhattan, Fairway, Junction City and Olathe had stormwater rates above $5 a month. Topeka, Lawrence, and Ottawa were above $4 per month.
No date for the work session has been set. City manager Jeff Cantrell said it would take time to come up with some proposals for the council to look over before scheduling such a meeting.
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