CITY COUNCIL AGENDA ITEM
Memo Date: August 13, 2024
Agenda Date: August 27, 2024
Prepared By: Lora Howell, Deputy Finance Director
Through: Rebecca Bowman, MBA, CGFO, CGFM, Finance Director; Stockton Whitten, City Manager
Requested Action:
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Approve the Final Assessment Resolution 2024-079 for Stormwater Utility Services, Fiscal Year 2025.
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BACKGROUND:
In 1992, the City of Cocoa established a Stormwater Utility Fee (City Ordinance, Sec. 22-85), to fund operating and capital projects and to maintain the City's drainage, ditches, swales, piping, inlets, manholes, and retention/detention ponds. At that time, a complete evaluation of all pervious and impervious surfaces, on non-residential and undisturbed parcels within the City limits, resulted in the development of a calculation inclusive of both surfaces. Residential properties assigned a Single-Family Unit (SFU) rate, for parcels, under 5 acres and residential properties over 5 acres were inclusive of a pervious surface component and multi-family residential units assigned the (SFU) rate per unit.
December of 2018, the City contracted with Stantec Consulting, to develop a 10-year financial plan for the Stormwater Fund. City Staff provided our consultant with audited FY 2018 financial information and the amended FY 2019 budget, to assist with the 10-year financial plan modeling. Mead and Hunt, one of the City's engineering firms, was simultaneously evaluating capital and water quality needs and developing a 10-year work plan for the stormwater utility, including new regulatory requirements for the Indian River Lagoon.
At the May 14, 2019 Stormwater Utility Workshop, Stantec presented to City Council a change in methodology on the calculation and collection of fees for the Stormwater Utility. Industry supports basing Stormwater rates on impervious surface only, and not including pervious surface in the calculation, which is a complete departure from the current methodology in our Ut...
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