Fayetteville council gives go-ahead to water fee study

NWA Democrat-Gazette/STACY RYBURN Chris Brown, Fayetteville city engineer, speaks Tuesday at City Hall during a discussion of studying a storm water utility fee for residents in Fayetteville.
NWA Democrat-Gazette/STACY RYBURN Chris Brown, Fayetteville city engineer, speaks Tuesday at City Hall during a discussion of studying a storm water utility fee for residents in Fayetteville.

FAYETTEVILLE -- The city will see what it would take to establish a fee to address about $15 million in needed drainage improvement.

All eight members of the City Council on Tuesday voted to spend no more than $200,000 to hire a consultant to explore a possible storm water utility program. Mayor Lioneld Jordan said the study will give the council some idea on how much the average residential or commercial water bill would go up, among other factors.

Next meeting

When: 5:30 p.m. Sept. 5

Where: Room 219, City Hall, 113 W. Mountain St.

"We need to know so we can make an informed decision," he said.

City staff estimated at least $15 million is needed to fix areas flooded during heavy rain. The estimate came in the wake of major flooding in April.

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Available money in the Capital Improvement Plan fund won't cover the many projects needed, each of which could cost up to $1 million, Staff Engineer Alan Pugh wrote in a memo to the council. It would take several years to finish just one project at the current rate.

The study will look at the size of the city's system, develop an operations and capital plan, look at ways to come up with the fee and recommend staffing, equipment and monetary requirements, City Engineer Chris Brown said.

Chief of Staff Don Marr said the eligible improvements would include only public infrastructure, such as roads, pipes and gutters. The city couldn't fix problems on private property.

Alderwoman Sarah Marsh said the city has about $200,000 to $300,000 available per year to put toward the estimated $15 million in needed repair. The negligence has lead to negative impacts in life and property for residents, she said.

"This is unacceptable," Marsh said. "Health, safety and welfare are key parts of our responsibilities as community leaders."

Alderman John La Tour asked how much the potential fees would be. Brown said a typical single family home would likely see its water bill go up a few dollars a month. A large commercial space such as Wal-Mart might see about a $100 increase.

"There's a lot of work that needs to be done before we can start settling on any kind numbers," Brown said.

Alderman Matthew Petty said he hopes the study and ultimately the fee would result in a broad, systematic solution to many of the city's drainage woes.

"In the majority of cases storm water systems, whether they're natural systems or built systems, don't work very well at the parcel scale," he said. "Natural systems don't respect parcel boundaries at all. They respect the hydrography of a region."

In other business, the council voted 7-1 to support the idea of an online sales tax. La Tour voted against, saying the tax is hard to collect because it would have to be reported as a use tax, which rarely happens.

"To say it's not a new tax is a little misleading," he said.

Jordan pointed out the taxes are still owed, and legislation requiring collection would protect local jobs. Most of the city's operational budget goes toward salaries and 60 percent of its general fund revenue comes from sales tax, he said.

Amazon started collecting sales tax in May. Chung Tan, director of economic development for the Chamber of Commerce, said some cities nationwide have seen a 40 percent increase in sales tax revenue from Amazon alone.

Resident Kyle Smith said he has a background in technology and not having sales tax once helped incubate internet businesses because of the difficulty in collecting. Software has since made that task much easier, he said.

"We shouldn't be hunting for new revenue streams until you are exhausting the ones that are already available," Smith said. "I stand here tonight having ranted on the internet for years, but it's time we collect the taxes that are already due to the city."

NW News on 08/16/2017

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