The city will host a public meeting at 6 p.m. tonight (Monday) in the Norman City Council Chambers, 201 W. Gray St. to present information, answer questions and garner more public input.
“The majority of the council is not trying to seek $7.3 million and fully fund this with new revenue,” Mayor Cindy Rosenthal said. “We’re looking at a lower number than that.”
If the downturn in the economy continues, the budget will have to be slashed, and those cuts won’t be easy, she said. Most cities don’t fund stormwater out of the general fund. Edmond, which is smaller than Norman, has had a stormwater utility fee since 1994. Broken Arrow has charged a stormwater utility fee since 2002.
“We have significant deficits in our general fund — we spend more from our general fund than we take in,” Rosenthal said. “There have been two suggestions on the table to take care of that structural deficit problem. One is to fund the stormwater costs with a stormwater utility like other cities do. The second suggestion is to stop diverting TIF sales dollars to the TIF and return them to the general fund.”
Under the current proposal some businesses, churches and other nonprofits, including the hospitals, would be paying hefty fees at a time when the economy is already challenging their budgets. While the council has discussed putting a cap on the fees paid by Norman Public Schools, there is no cap proposed on the fees charged to other large property sites.
“The best time to ask for more money is not in an economic downturn,” said Chamber President and CEO John Woods. “You can price yourself out of getting anything, potentially. I’m sure the city would love to have that additional revenue, but if you make it too expensive, you fail the initiative and you end up getting zero dollars.”
Another concern is the city requirement for parking. While some council members have said that needs to be revisited, the requirements are still on the books and existing structures still have oversized lots, he said.
“These businesses are forced to have large parking lots, and now they want to charge them for it,” Woods said. “There is a tangible frustration on the fee structure and what it adds up to. As far as the business community is concerned, we have supported the water quality issue, the wastewater fee increase, the public safety sale tax issue, Norman public schools bond, the Norman Forward tax increase and the Moore-Norman career tech bond, but I’ve never seen the level of consternation, confusion, frustration and lack of support during my years with the Norman Chamber as I have on this issue.”
• How much money does the city need?
The general fund is carrying $2,375,000 in stormwater costs. The city removed just over $800,000 in annual costs for mowing from the stormwater costs. That remains in the general fund under another category.
The city’s proposed total budget for the storm water utility is $7,325,000. That includes $2,850,000 (39 percent) for basic maintenance, $2,355,000 (32 percent) to pay for unfunded mandates mostly required by the recent Thunderbird TMDL findings, and $2,120,000 (29 percent) for flood relief.
• Maintenance: Better maintenance of the existing 328 miles of stream and channels will help with water quality and flooding. Currently, the city budgets $1.7 million toward that maintenance, but another $1,150,000 is needed for maintenance and other basics for a total $2.85 million.
• Street sweeping: Currently the city is paying for street sweeping and stormwater permit mandates to the tune of $675,000. But with the Lake Thunderbird TMDL complete, Norman faces more requirements resulting in the need for an additional $1,680,000 for more street sweeping, including equipment replacement, and more construction site inspections to meet unfunded mandates that bring the total to $2.355,000.
• Flood relief: The $2.12 million for flood relief includes enhanced maintenance in neighborhoods and capital projects to address flooding and cost share programs with homeowners associations. Woods said the HOAs are telling him they want to know up front what the requirements will be to qualify for assistance. Spelling that out could help the vote pass, he said.
With the current general fund investment, the city needs an additional $4,950,000 to meet the stormwater needs.
———
©2016 The Norman Transcript (Norman, Okla.)
Visit The Norman Transcript (Norman, Okla.) at www.normantranscript.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
