(A) Fees shall be collected for the use of, and benefit received from, the City Ditch Stormwater Service System. Monies received from the fees charged shall be used to pay for the operation, maintenance, improvement and administration of the City Ditch Stormwater System. The fees shall be established by a separate ordinance that bases the fee charges on a formula that meets the following description:
(1) In order to establish fees that justly and equitably reflect the service received, the fee shall be based on estimates of storm and surface water volume and characteristics for parcels of property or groups of parcels.
(2) To assure that the storm and surface water runoff volume and characteristics of each parcel of property or group of parcels are fairly reflected in the fee formula, the engineering principles embodied in the hydrologic model developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Soil Conservation Services (“SCS”) and described in SCS's Technical Release #55 shall serve as the basis for these determinations.
(3) In order to establish a fee formula that accurately applies the engineering principles embodied in the SCS hydrologic model certain other assumptions and variables must be used in the calculation of the formula. Factors underlying these assumptions or operating as variables include: soil type and condition, extent and imperviousness of ground surface cover, type of land usage and estimated rainfall amounts and their intensity. The use of such assumptions and variables in the fee formula, to be set forth in the separate ordinance establishing the fee charges, will be consistent with the objective that the fees justly and equitably reflect the service received.
(B) In recognition of the costs to operate and maintain a stormwater system that are not substantially affected by the volume of storm or surface waters handled by the system, and that the formula when applied to owners of small parcels of property may often generate revenues in amounts less than adequate to cover the cost of billing those owners, there shall be a minimum administrative fee for any single lot or parcel of property owned by a person.
(C) All fees chargeable to owners of properties within the City, and otherwise payable by the owners of those properties, shall be paid by the City government into the City Ditch Stormwater Services Fund.
(Ord. 9-95, passed 4-25-95)