By Shaun Penner

City Infrastructure

Stormwater utility models explored at Grande Prairie city committee meeting

Jan 5, 2021 | 3:12 PM

The City’s stormwater system may soon be funded through a new utility fee model, as initial discussions about the topic were held at a City standing committee meeting Tuesday.

The presentation on the topic was given by City of Grande Prairie Senior Executive Advisor Rory Tarant. He presented several models on how to move forward with such a method, one that would see fees collected from individual property owners.

Currently, the stormwater system’s operations and maintenance are funded through the general municipal tax pool and provincial grants.

Tarant says moving to a user-fee model would provide the departments responsible for the management of the system, both Parks and Transportation and Engineering, with more predictable funding.

“When it is part of the general tax base, the utility system has to compete with all of the other priorities in the City,” said Tarant. “Stormwater is not necessarily the most sexy item, and so it is sometimes hard to get consistent funding.”

Tarant says in his report that about $2.3 million is spent annually on maintenance and operations of the system, which involves cleaning catch basins, storm drains and outfalls, monitoring flows, and street sweeping. He adds annual capital spending on stormwater projects has averaged $6.9 million in recent years.

He says a user-fee model could also make the cost-sharing of the system more equitable for taxpayers, as fees could then be charged to tax-exempt properties.

“The largest properties in the city being hospitals, provincial buildings, we don’t receive property taxes from those facilities, yet we still provide the municipal services to them,” said Tarant. “It’s a way that would reduce the impact for city residents, in that we would generate some provincial dollars from those properties.”

That shift would also mean a reduction in the overall property tax rate in the City, which Tarant estimates would drop by around 7.8 per cent. He suggests that may also bring Grande Prairie’s tax rate more in line with other Alberta municipalities, like Spruce Grove, who have already shifted to such a model.

Several models were presented for the council committee’s consideration, including a flat rate, a tiered rate, and an impermeable rate. The committee’s interest was most piqued by the idea of a hybrid between the tiered and impermeable model, where larger properties would pay more, while an additional per square metre charge would be levied against any property that is considered impermeable (or does not absorb stormwater).

“Right now, everybody pays equally for stormwater,” explained Tarant. “However, if you have someone like a Costco that has a huge parking lot and building footprint when a storm event happens, they contribute significantly more to the stormwater system.

“Potentially, they should be paying for how much they impact that system.”

Tarant says for those larger contributors under such a model, finding environmentally friendly initiatives may be of more interest to them.

“Part of having this system is that we are able to give credits to properties that are making these decisions,” said Tarant, pointing to the “green roof” on Tile Ideal’s building, as an example.

“All the water that lands on the roof is absorbed through the vegetation that is on it and doesn’t make it’s way to the stormwater system.”

No timeline for a final decision is known and a final proposal will need to be brought before City Council at a later date before any changes are implemented.