Stormwater Management System User Charges., Chapter 1. Organization of City, Municipal Code, Code of Ordinances, West Allis

(1)

Purpose. It is determined and declared to be necessary and conducive to the protection of the public health, safety, welfare and convenience of the City to collect charges from all users of the City's stormwater management system. The proceeds of such charges will be used to fund the management of the City's stormwater system, to include but not be limited to, investment and reinvestment in, and the maintenance and improvement of new and existing infrastructures, and other improvements to the system that will reduce flooding and urban non-point source pollution in stormwater run-off consistent with federal and state regulations. The stormwater management system user charge ordinance is enacted pursuant to the authority of Wis. Stat. § 66.0821(4).

(2)

Definitions. Unless the context specifically indicates otherwise, the meaning of terms used in this section shall be as follows:

	City means the City of West Allis.
	Committee means the Board of Public Works Committee of the West Allis Common Council.
	Common Council means the Common Council of the City.
	Debt service means, with respect to any particular fiscal year and any particular bond series, an amount equal to the sum of (i) all interest payable on such bonds during such fiscal year, plus (ii) any principal installments of such bonds during such fiscal year.
	Developed property means real property which has been altered from its natural state by the addition of any improvements, such as a building, structure or impervious surface.
	Dwelling unit means a single unit or apartment providing complete, independent living facilities for one or more persons, including permanent provisions for living, sleeping, eating, cooking and sanitation.
	Equivalent run-off unit (ERU) means the estimated average impervious area of a single-family home within the City on the date of adoption of this section. Impervious area includes, but is not limited to, all areas covered by structures, roof extensions, patios, porches, driveways and sidewalks. One ERU is equal to one thousand eight hundred twenty-seven (1,827) square feet of impervious area.
	Extension and replacement means costs of extensions, additions and capital improvements to, or the renewal and replacement of capital assets of, or purchasing and installing new equipment for, the system, or land acquisition for the system and any related costs thereto, or paying extraordinary maintenance and repair, including the costs of construction, or any other expenses which are not costs of operation and maintenance or debt service.
	Fiscal year means a twelve-month period commencing on the First day of January of any year.
	Impervious area or impervious surface means a horizontal surface which has been compacted or covered with a layer of material so that it is highly resistant to infiltration by rainwater. It includes, but is not limited to, semi-impervious surfaces such as compacted clay, as well as streets, roofs, sidewalks, parking lots and other similar surfaces.
	Mobile home means a single residential unit (mobile home) within a mobile home park.
	Multifamily means a residential property with two (2) or more dwelling units.
	Nonresidential means any developed property not used, primarily, as a permanent residence, such as a commercial, industrial or an institutional property (schools, churches, hospitals, fraternal organizations, municipal facilities, etc.).
	Operating budget means estimated revenues and the estimated costs for operations and maintenance, extension and replacement and debt service of the system for each fiscal year.
	Operation and maintenance means the current expenses, paid or accrued, of operation, maintenance and current repair of the system, as calculated in accordance with sound accounting practice and includes, without limiting the generality of the foregoing, insurance premiums, administrative expenses, labor, executive compensation, the cost of regulatory compliance, the cost of materials and supplies used for current operations and charges for the accumulation of appropriate reserves for current expenses not annually incurred, but which are such as may reasonably be expected to be incurred in accordance with sound accounting practice.
	Qualifying receiving stream means a receiving stream within the municipal boundaries of the City for which the City has or is expected to have little to no debt service costs or extension and replacement costs. Those portions of Honey Creek, Underwood Creek, and the Root River located within the municipal boundaries of the City are qualifying receiving streams.
	Rate means the user fee charged on each ERU. The rate is determined by the Common Council for each fiscal year.
	Revenues means all rates, fees, assessments, rentals, fines or other charges or other income received by the City, in connection with the management and operation of the system, including amounts received from the investment or deposit of moneys in any fund or account, as herein required, and any amounts contributed by the City, all as calculated in accordance with sound accounting practices.
	Single-family home means a residential property with exactly one dwelling unit.
	Stormwater management system, stormwater system or system means the existing stormwater collection system of the City, including but not limited to storm sewers, retention ponds, detention ponds and qualifying receiving streams, and all improvements thereto, which by this section are constituted as the responsibility of the City, to be operated as an enterprise fund, and all activities undertaken to conserve water, control discharges necessitated by rainfall events, incorporate methods to collect, convey, store, absorb, inhibit, treat, use or reuse water to prevent or reduce flooding, over-drainage, environmental degradation and water pollution or otherwise affect the quality and quantity of discharge from such system.
	Undeveloped land means any real property with no impervious area.
	User charge means the charge established by the Common Council on developed property in the City to pay operations and maintenance, extension and replacement and debt service for the stormwater management system.

(3)

Disposition of Revenue.

(a)

The user charges hereunder shall generate adequate annual revenues to pay costs for the stormwater management system.

(b)

The portion of the total user charges collected which are designated for operation and maintenance, capital improvement projects and debt service shall be deposited in a separate nonlapsing fund known as the Stormwater Management System Fund and will be kept in three (3) primary accounts as follows:

(i)

An account designated for the specific purpose of defraying operation and maintenance costs, excluding extension and replacement of the stormwater system (operation and maintenance account).

(ii)

An account designated for the specific purpose of extension and replacement of the stormwater system over the useful life of the system (extension and replacement account).

(iii)

An account designated for the specific purpose of payment of debt service (debt service account). The City may credit from this account to the general fund of the City sums to be expended for the retirement of outstanding stormwater system indebtedness of the City.

(c)

Fiscal year end balances in the operation and maintenance account, the extension and replacement account and debt service account shall be carried over to the same accounts in the subsequent fiscal year and shall be used for no other purpose than those designated for these accounts. Moneys which have been transferred from other sources to meet temporary shortages in the operation and maintenance, extension and replacement and debt service accounts shall be returned to their respective accounts upon appropriate adjustment of the user charge rates allocation between the three Stormwater Management System Fund accounts. The user charge rates shall be adjusted such that the transferred moneys will be returned to their respective accounts within the fiscal year following the fiscal year in which the moneys were borrowed.

(4)

User Charges and Rates.

(a)

User Charge. The Common Council shall require that adequate revenues are generated through user charges to provide for a balanced operating budget. The Common Council hereby authorizes the imposition of user charges on all developed property in the City.

(b)

Customer Classes. For purposes of the imposition of the user charge, the customer base shall be divided into five (5) user classes. ERUs shall be allocated to each customer class as follows:

	Customer Class	Allocated ERUs
	Single-family	1 ERU
	Mobile home	0.7 ERU per dwelling unit
	Multifamily	0.5 ERU per dwelling unit
	Nonresidential	See Subsection (4)(c)
	Undeveloped lands	No charge

(c)

ERUs Allocated to Nonresidential Customer Class. The total ERUs allocated to a nonresidential property is calculated using the following formula:

	ERUs	=	Total Impervious Area (sq. ft.) on the nonresidential property 1,827 Sq. Ft.

	A nonresidential property with less than 0.5 ERU will be allocated zero ERUs.

(d)

Rates. The Common Council will establish a rate per ERU for each fiscal year. The rate established by the Common Council will be fair and reasonable and calculated to achieve a balanced operating budget for the system. The current rate will be on file in the office of the City Clerk/Treasurer.

(e)

Calculation. User charges to a customer shall be calculated as follows:

	ERUs x Rate per ERU x Adjustment Multiplier = User Charge
	The adjustment multiplier for each customer shall equal 1 unless a different adjustment multiplier is approved for the customer pursuant to Subsection (7) below.

(5)

Billing and Payment. Bills for the user charge shall be rendered as part of the water bill for the property and become due and payable on the same date as the water bill. The maximum penalty permitted by law for pass-due water charges shall be added to user charges not paid by the due date.

(6)

Lien. All user charges established hereunder shall be a lien upon the property served, pursuant to Wis. Stats. § 66.0821(4)(d), and shall be collected in the manner therein provided.

(7)

Adjustments.

(a)

Intent. In certain situations, the amount of services used by and the costs of providing service to a property may be lessened due to unique characteristics of the property served. This section provides a procedure to seek adjustments of charges in those situations. In developing this process, the City recognizes that debt service costs and extension and replacement costs are incurred primarily to provide the capacity needed in the stormwater management system, and operation and maintenance costs are incurred to ensure the administration of the stormwater system, the day-to-day operation of the stormwater system and the needed capacity in the system.

(b)

Requests for Adjustment. Requests for adjustments shall be limited to the nonresidential customer class. All such requests shall be submitted to the Director of Public Works, who is hereby given the authority to review the request and recommend to the Board of Public Works Committee of the West Allis Common Council whether an adjustment is merited based upon the guidelines established herein. The following procedure shall apply to all adjustment requests:

(i)

Any nonresidential customer who believes the number of ERUs allocated to the nonresidential property to be incorrect or who believes the property is eligible for a lower adjustment multiplier as provided in Subsection (7)(c) may, subject to the limitations set forth in this section, submit an adjustment request to the Director of Public Works.

(ii)

Adjustment requests shall be in writing and set forth, in detail, the grounds upon which relief is sought.

(iii)

The nonresidential customer requesting the adjustment may be required, at his or her own expense, to provide supplemental information to the Director of Public Works, including, but not limited to, survey data approved by a registered professional land surveyor (R.P.L.S.) and engineering reports approved by a professional engineer (P.E.). Failure to provide such information may result in the denial of the adjustment request.

(c)

Basis for Adjustment.

(i)

The allocated ERUs may be adjusted if the ERU square footage calculation as determined in Subsection (4)(c) is incorrect.

(ii)

A customer may be eligible for a lowered adjustment multiplier under the following conditions:

If all of the stormwater from a nonresidential property discharges directly into a qualifying receiving stream without crossing the property of another, and the discharge does not result in the exceedence of federal, state or local water quality standards, the customer is eligible for an adjustment multiplier less than one but equal to or greater than the percentage equal to the City's Operation and Maintenance cost budgeted for the current year divided by the City's User Fee Revenue budgeted for the current year.

If all of the stormwater from a nonresidential property discharges directly into a qualifying receiving stream without crossing the property of another, and the nonresidential customer is a holder of or has filed a proper and complete application for a Municipal Stormwater Discharge Permit as provided in Wis. Stat. § 283.33 and as further defined in Department of Natural Resources ("NR") 216.01 through 216.11 of the Wisconsin Administrative Code, the customer is eligible for a lowered adjustment multiplier which may be as low as zero.

If all the stormwater from a nonresidential property discharges directly into a stormwater collection system constructed and maintained by the Milwaukee Metropolitan Sewerage District ("MMSD") without crossing the property of another, the customer is eligible for a lowered adjustment multiplier equal to zero.

If all the stormwater from a nonresidential property discharges directly into a storm sewer constructed and maintained by the City on the nonresidential customer's property pursuant to an easement, and if after the stormwater travels through the easement area it is discharged as provided in Subsection (7)(c)(ii)2 or 3, the customer is eligible for a lowered adjustment multiplier which may be as low as zero.

If a retention or detention basin is located on nonresidential property, the customer may apply for a lowered adjustment multiplier. In considering such a request, the Director of Public Works shall consider whether and to what extent the City's cost of providing service or making service available to a property has been lessened by the retention or detention basin. If the City's cost of providing service or making service available to a property has not been lessened by the retention or detention basin, the request for the lowered adjustment multiplier shall be denied. If the City's cost of providing service or making service available to a property has been lessened by the retention or detention basin, the adjustment multiplier shall be reduced to reflect the approximate reduction in the City's costs. The City's debt service costs and extension and replacement costs shall not be considered to be reduced unless the existence of a retention or detention basin results in a reduction of the size or scope of the City's stormwater collection system.

If a nonresidential municipal property receives stormwater discharge directly from a public storm sewer and/or provides a benefit that exceeds the adverse impact to the public storm sewer system, the customer's adjustment multiplier shall be zero and no charge shall be billed.

[Ord. O-2013-0037, 10-1-2013]

(iii)

In considering a request for an adjustment, the Public Works Director may, in his or her discretion, separately examine multiple drainage areas on one piece of property and may recommend allowing an adjustment multiplier for a portion of the property if the characteristics of one or more drainage areas meets the criteria set forth in Subsection (7)(c)(ii).

(iv)

The Director of Public Works, in his or her discretion, may recommend allowing a lowered adjustment multiplier which may be as low as zero for a nonresidential property for reasons other than as specifically set forth in this Subsection (7)(c), provided that the adjustment is reasonable and not unjustly discriminatory.

(d)

Director of Public Works' Recommendation and Review Procedure.

(i)

The Director of Public Works shall issue a written recommendation as to whether the request for adjustment should be granted, denied, or granted in part and denied in part. The written recommendation shall also set forth the reason or reasons for such recommendation. The recommendation shall be sent to the nonresidential customer by certified mail, and shall be provided to the Board of Public Works Committee of the West Allis Common Council.

(ii)

Within thirty (30) days of receipt of the written recommendation from the Director of Public Works, the Committee shall determine whether to review the recommendation. If the Committee determines to review the recommendation, the nonresidential customer shall be notified of such intent to review by certified mail.

(iii)

As an alternative to review under Subsection (7)(d)(ii), a nonresidential customer may, within thirty (30) days of receipt of the written recommendation from the Director of Public Works, submit a written request to the Committee asking the Committee to review the recommendation. If the Committee receives a timely written request for review, the Committee shall review the recommendation.

(iv)

If no timely notice of intent to review is sent to the nonresidential customer pursuant to Subsection (7)(d)(ii) and no timely written request for review is received pursuant to Subsection (7)(d)(iii), the recommendation of the Public Works Director shall be final.

(v)

Committee review of the Public Works Director's recommendation shall be completed within forty-five (45) days of the date the notice of intent to review is sent to the nonresidential customer, or the date the written request for review is received, whichever is earlier. The Committee shall review the recommendation and determine whether the recommendation should be approved, rejected, or modified. The determination of the Committee shall be in writing and set forth, in detail, the reason or reasons for its decision and shall inform the nonresidential customer by certified mail.

(vi)

In reviewing a recommendation, the Committee shall apply the standard and review criteria contained in Subsection (7)(c) and the considerations set forth in Wis. Stat. § 660.0821(4)(c).

(e)

Application of Adjustments. Any ERU adjustment or adjustment multiplier granted shall thereafter be used to calculate the customer's user charges. The reduction shall only apply for the period of time subsequent to the filing of the request for adjustment. There shall be no retroactive adjustment for user charges imposed prior to the filing of the request.

(8)

Public Service Commission Complaint. Notwithstanding Subsection (7), any user may file a complaint with the Public Service Commission claiming that the rates, rules and practices herein are unreasonable or unjustly discriminatory pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 66.0821(5).

(9)

Severability. If any provision or part of this section is adjudged unconstitutional or invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, the remainder of this section shall not be affected thereby.