(a) Establishment of the ERU and the ERU rate. The City Council, upon the recommendation of the City Manager, shall establish the value of an ERU, equal to the number of square feet of measured impervious surface area and equal to the statistical average amount of horizontal impervious area of residential units within the City, and shall establish a flat fee for the ERU rate in the City's Fee Schedule, Appendix A
to the City Government Code.
(b) Establishment of Residential Fees. The City Council, upon the recommendation of the City Manager, shall establish a flat monthly fee for the stormwater user fee per residential lot, parcel, or use in the City's Fee Schedule, Appendix A
to the City Government Code. This flat fee recognizes that the contribution to runoff from most residential lots, parcels, or uses is similar and it would, therefore, be excessive and unnecessarily expensive to determine precisely the square footage of impervious areas on each residential lot or parcel within the City.
(c) Undeveloped Lots or Parcels. Non-exempt lots or parcels of 0.1 acres or more that are undeveloped shall be assessed a monthly stormwater user fee. The monthly fee shall be a flat fee based on calculations regarding typical runoff from an average residential lot or parcel and the statistical distribution of undeveloped lots or parcel based upon acreage citywide.
(d) Nonresidential Fees. For all non-exempt nonresidential lots or parcels or other land not covered by division (c) of this section, the rate of the monthly stormwater user fee shall be computed based on the total impervious area, in square feet, of the lot, parcel, or use divided by the area of an ERU to determine the number of ERUs on the lot, parcel, or use, times the monthly rate established for an ERU. ERU calculations shall be rounded to the nearest whole number.
(e) Annual Increase.
(1) Beginning January 1, 2026, the established monthly residential stormwater user fee and the monthly ERU rate shall be subject to an annual increase equal to the percentage obtained by averaging the national inflation rates from the United States Labor Department, Bureau of Labor Statistics, for the previous three (3) years. This increase shall be referred to as the Cost of Living Adjustment (COLA). The new monthly residential stormwater user fee and new monthly ERU rate will be established annually by adding the COLA to the existing monthly residential stormwater user fee and the monthly ERU rate. The Finance Director is hereby authorized to update the City's Fee Schedule, Appendix A of the City Government Code, to reflect the yearly COLA increase.
(2) The Finance Director may, no later than February 1st, recommend to City Council the waiver of all or any part of the yearly COLA increase, and such recommendation may be for one year or multiple years. Upon such recommendation by the Finance Director, City Council may, by resolution, waive all or any part of the proposed COLA increase for one year or multiple years.
(3) If City Council takes no action to waive all or any part of the proposed COLA increase, in accordance with division (e)(2) of this section, the yearly COLA increase shall be implemented by the Finance Director no later than March 1st of that year.
(Ord. 06-87. Adopted 12/28/06; Ord. 12-08. Adopted 03/22/12; Ord. 2022-44. Adopted 11/22/22; Ord. 2023-38. Adopted 12/28/23; Em. Ord. 2024-01. Adopted 02/08/24; Ord. 2024-02. Adopted 02/22/24)