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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAdmin Order 58-26-06-F -- SW User Fee Amendments (FY27)Administrative Order - Page 1 of 2 ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 58-26-06-F of the City Manager of the City of Eugene SETTING STORMWATER USER FEES AND SUPERSEDING THE FEE SCHEDULE ADOPTED BY ADMINISTRATIVE ORDER NO. 58-25-16-F. The City Manager of the City of Eugene finds as follows: A.Section 6.411 of the Eugene Code, 1971 (EC), authorizes the City Manager to determine and set fees and charges to be imposed by the City for wastewater service, regional wastewater service, and stormwater service. Pursuant to that authority, on July 10, 2025, Administrative Order No. 58-25-16-F was issued amending the Stormwater User Fee Schedule. B. On April 27, 2026, I issued Administrative Order No. 58-26-06, ordering that notice be given of the opportunity to submit comments on a proposal to set new stormwater user fees. The Notice was posted and published, specifying that comments on the proposed amendments could be submitted orally at the public hearing on May 14, 2026, or in writing until 5:00 p.m. on May 14, 2026. Comments received during the public comment period are addressed in the City Manager's Findings Supporting Proposed Fees, attached as Exhibit B to this Order. C. Based on my investigation in accordance with EC 6.411(1), which investigated the revenue needs of the City in providing stormwater services, including the revenue needs for operating and maintaining City parks and open spaces, and having considered the criteria at EC 6.411(2), I find that the fees should be set as proposed, effective for all bills issued on or after July 1, 2026. (See Exhibit B.) D. The unamended stormwater fees adopted by Administrative Order No. 58-25-16- F are incorporated into the Fee Schedule attached as Exhibit A to this Order. On the basis of these findings, I order that: 1.A copy of this Order shall be promptly forwarded to the Mayor and City Councilors. Unless reviewed by the Council pursuant to EC 6.411(1)(f), this Order shall become final on the 11th day after the date it is rendered. 2.Notwithstanding the effective date of this Order as set forth above, the Stormwater User Fee Schedule attached as Exhibit A to this Order is the schedule of fees to be charged for the described services effective for all bills issued on or after July 1, 2026. Exhibit A to Administrative Order No. 58-26-06-F Page 1 of 1 STORMWATER USER FEE SCHEDULE (Effective for all bills issued on or after July 1, 2026) Stormwater User Fees are determined based on the user category. All users other than single- family dwellings and duplexes are in the Commercial/Industrial category. The fee for a single- family dwelling is determined based on the following three categories: 1. Small Residential. Building footprint is equal to or less than 1,000 square feet. 2. Medium Residential. Building footprint is greater than 1,000 square feet and less than 3,000 square feet. 3. Large Residential. Building footprint is 3,000 square feet or greater. The fee for a duplex is calculated as follows: The administrative portion of the fee is the same as the fee for a single-family dwelling with the same building footprint; the street-related portion of the fee is twice the amount for a single-family dwelling with the same building footprint; and the charge for impervious surface is the same as for a single-family dwelling if the duplex has a vertical configuration and twice that rate if the duplex has a horizontal configuration. The term “per 1,000 sf” refers to square foot of impervious surface area. Small Residential Medium Residential Large Residential Commercial/Industrial Impervious Surface: $12.26 $19.75 $6.81 per 1,000 sf $6.81 per 1,000 sf Street-Related: $3.42 $3.42 $3.42 $2.43 per 1,000 sf Administrative: $0.98 $0.98 $3.14 $3.14 Total Monthly Fee: $16.66 $24.15 Varies Varies Application Fees: Fees Reduction or Elimination of Discharge .............................................. $150.00 Reduction of Impervious Area: Small or Medium Residential Customer ......................................... $50.00 General Customer ............................................................................ $100.00 Exhibit B to Administrative Order 58-26-06-F Page 1 of 6 CITY MANAGER’S FINDINGS Proposed Stormwater Fee Schedule Amendments Stormwater fees support services that protect clean water in Amazon Creek and the Willamette River, enhance fish and wildlife habitat, and reduce the risk of flooding. They also support the operation and maintenance of City parks and open spaces. An investigation was conducted to determine stormwater fee revenue needs through FY27. The investigation included the following factors, as outlined in Eugene Code 6.411. The City of Eugene is proposing to increase the stormwater user fee by 5%, effective July 1, 2026. This FY27 rate increase provides the resources to address issues impacting the stormwater service, including those impacting the operation and maintenance of the City’s parks and open spaces. This user fee increase also reflects the addition of a portion of a new strategic position within the Public Works Department. Due to workload growth, employee turnover, increasing complexity and regulatory requirements for road, stormwater, and wastewater infrastructure, 0.30 FTE for a Assistant Director in the Maintenance Division is included in the rate structure. The remaining portions of this FTE will be funded by the Road Fund and the Wastewater Fund. The fee increase will also keep pace with inflation that these services are expecting to see over the forecast period. Pursuant to Sections 6.411(1) and (2), the City Manager has conducted an investigation of the revenue needs of the City in conducting the stormwater service and has examined the following criteria in determining the proposed fees: 1) The amount charged for such service in the past. Findings: Parks maintenance and operations expenditures were incorporated into the existing stormwater rate structure and allocated consistently with the proposed rate-increase percentage. Small Residential Medium Residential Large Residential Commercial/Industrial Current Impervious Surface: $11.68 $18.82 $6.49 per 1,000 sf $6.49 per 1,000 sf Proposed fees: $12.26 $19.75 $6.81 $6.81 Current Street-Related: $3.26 $3.26 $3.26 $2.31 per 1,000 sf Proposed fees: $3.42 $3.42 $3.42 $2.43 Exhibit B to Administrative Order 58-26-06-F Page 2 of 6 Small Residential Medium Residential Large Residential Commercial/Industrial Current Administrative: $0.93 $0.93 $2.99 $2.99 Proposed fees: $0.98 $0.98 $3.14 $3.14 Current Total Monthly Fee: $15.87 $23.01 Varies Varies Proposed fees: $16.66 $24.15 Varies Varies Application Fees: Fees Proposed Reduction or Elimination of Discharge .............................................. $150.00 No change to this fee Reduction of Impervious Area: Small or Medium Residential Customer ......................................... $50.00 No change to this fee General Customer ............................................................................ $100.00 No change to this fee 2) Applicable federal or state regulations or conditions imposed as part of a federal or state grant or financial assistance agreement. Findings: The City is required to provide stormwater services that enable it to comply with its current (2021) National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) Municipal Separate Storm Sewer System Discharge Permit. 3) The Amounts charged or proposed to be charged by the City of Springfield and other providers of stormwater services for comparable services. Findings: Because cities vary in how they define and structure their stormwater services, this finding is addressed using two approaches. The first relies on the annual stormwater rate survey, which focuses on Oregon cities regulated under the MS4 permit program to ensure consistent and comparable analysis. In addition, several Oregon cities have adopted user fees to support city parks, either as stand-alone charges or combined with other utility services. Since the City of Eugene now includes parks operations and maintenance within its stormwater service definition, and is not a separate fee, a supplemental comparison with these similar cities has been completed and is presented below. Stormwater Residential Rate Survey: Within this group, “MS4 Phase I permittees” tend to represent larger and more densely populated areas and must meet additional regulatory obligations compared to the smaller “MS4 Phase II permittees.” The table below reflects that the stormwater rates for Medford, Corvallis, Springfield, and Albany—all MS4 Phase II permittees—fall on the lower end of the range. All other cities in the table are MS4 Phase I Exhibit B to Administrative Order 58-26-06-F Page 3 of 6 permittees, whose stormwater programs are more comparable in scale to Eugene’s, with the exception of Portland, which operates a combined sanitary and stormwater system in many older areas of the city and therefore is not directly comparable in scope. Several other cities in Oregon have established a user fee for city parks, either as a stand-alone fee or in combination with other services. Since the City of Eugene has expanded the definition of stormwater services to include parks operations and maintenance, an additional analysis has been conducted on similar cities. 1. The City of Gresham imposes a Police, Fire and Parks Fee of $15.00 per unit, per month, for single-family households, multi-family property owners and businesses to help maintain these services. Of the $15.00 monthly per unit fee, $0.75 goes towards parks services. 2. The City of Medford imposes a Park Utility Fee of $6.83 per unit, per month for construction, operation and maintenance of city parks, facilities and rights-of-way. 3. The City of Tigard imposes a park and recreation fee of $9.38 per unit per month for the maintenance and operation of city parks and to support the recreation program. 4. The City of Tualatin imposes a parks fee of $5.00 per unit to maintain, repair and restore City parks. The City of Springfield does not operate or maintain parks, it relies on Willamalane Park and Recreation District to operate and maintain parks within the City of Springfield. Exhibit B to Administrative Order 58-26-06-F Page 4 of 6 4) For an individual stormwater service customer that discharges stormwater that requires extraordinary expense to the city, special surcharge rates based on the type, concentration, quantity, quality and frequency of the discharge. Findings: The current fee structure is set up so the more stormwater a large residential or industrial/commercial property discharges, the more they pay for the City to manage it once it gets to the public system. 5) Other relevant adopted policies of the council. Findings: City Council adopted Comprehensive Stormwater Management Plan (CSWMP, 1993) which includes goals, policies and implementation actions that provide the framework for an integrated multiple-objective approach to stormwater management. In addition, through Ordinance No. 20710, the City Council adopted a policy requiring that the stormwater service ratemaking process include consideration of the revenue needed to pay for the direct and indirect expected costs to operate and maintain city-owned parks and open spaces. 6) The terms of any applicable intergovernmental agreement relating to stormwater services. Findings: The intergovernmental agreement with EWEB for utility service charge collection services, updated November 1, 2025, includes an increase of $288,000 in stormwater related billing costs. This amount represents approximately 1% of the proposed stormwater rate increase. Existing relevant agreements, such as the City of Eugene/Lane County Stormwater IGA and the City of Eugene/Lane County Maintenance IGA, remain consistent with prior cost structures and are updated periodically as needed to maintain parity in level of effort and resources. 7) The obtaining of equity between different classes of customers so that one class of customers does not pay more than its proportionate share of the expenses of providing sewer service. Findings: The different user categories for stormwater fees are designed to ensure fair and equitable distribution of costs based on the property's contribution to stormwater runoff which is calculated using impervious surface area and factors in eligible reductions. With the expansion of the stormwater definition to include the operation and maintenance of parks and open space, these additional costs are being allocated consistently using the same impervious surface calculation method. There are two main classes of stormwater fees: residential and commercial/industrial. Smaller residences typically have less impervious area, generating a smaller fee. Large residential customers and commercial/industrial customers are billed their impervious area multiplied by the rate per 1,000 square feet of impervious area. Larger residences and businesses therefore pay a larger fee to maintain and operate stormwater and parks and open space services. Exhibit B to Administrative Order 58-26-06-F Page 5 of 6 8) The city manager shall consider the value of the use and occupancy of the city’s right- of-way by the city stormwater system. Findings: The City of Eugene stormwater program is paying a similar charge for the use and occupancy of the City of Eugene’s right-of-way system, when compared to other utilities in the area. Summary Record of Open Questions and Comments at Public Hearing Thursday, May 14th, 2026 12:00 p.m. Virtual Zoom Hearing On the matter of receiving comment on proposed adjustments for Stormwater or Wastewater user fees for bills issued on and after July 1, 2026 No participants provided comment in the matter of proposed stormwater and wastewater user fee increases. Below is a summary of written questions or comments received, followed by the City response. In person testimony: No testimony received Emailed comments: From: John Brown Sent: Monday, May 11, 2026 11:58 AM To: Eugene PWA Utility Admin <UtilityAdmin@eugene-or.gov> Subject: Stormwater fee increase Susan, For the record my comments are from me personally and no they do not represent any position from any Board or Commission that I currently represent.