Council candidates, incumbents weigh in on stormwater issues

Clogged storm drains, like the one shown here, can cause rain water to back up and flood Jefferson City streets in low-lying areas.
Clogged storm drains, like the one shown here, can cause rain water to back up and flood Jefferson City streets in low-lying areas.

As the April 3 municipal election approaches, Jefferson City Council incumbents and Ward 5 candidates outlined their goals to improve stormwater issues in the city.

Three Ward 5 candidates - Jon Hensley, Jim Crabtree and Ashley Kaufman - and unopposed incumbents - Ward 1 Councilman Rick Prather, Ward 2 Councilman Rick Mihalevich, Ward 3 Councilwoman Erin Wiseman and Ward 4 Councilman Ron Fitzwater - said stormwater infrastructure is an issue that needs to be addressed, but gave different ideas for how to fix the growing problem.

Stormwater issues came to the forefront when the city experienced four flash floods in 2016. Residents particularly in wards 4 and 5 came forth with stories of stormwater damages to their homes - some describing up to $25,000 worth of damage.

As of Friday, there were about 85 projects in the city's list of stormwater issues, which is created based on residents' calls and the city's Street Division's reports. Jefferson City Stormwater Engineer Don Fontana estimated it would cost more than $15 million to repair all the projects on the list.

This list does not include some projects on the 2006 plan, which outlines more than 100 stormwater projects with a price tag of more than $32 million. Fontana said previously some stormwater projects on that list were completed after the plan was released.

One reason for the problem is the majority of residences in Jefferson City were built before the city established an ordinance outlining stormwater guidelines. A second reason is the aging system has surpassed its lifespan, which is 20-30 years, Public Works Director Matt Morasch said last fall.

Hensley said he supports a stormwater utility fee that would go toward replacing and modernizing the city's stormwater system such as fixing problem areas, looking for ways to increase the amount of water the system could handle and determining where retention basins would be useful. He added areas that have recently been improved and do not require modernization would not be replaced.

"It would be treating it as a systemwide update rather than a patchwork update," he said. "Seeing the scope of the stormwater problem across town and doing just basic research on the nature of the problem and the nature of the solutions, that appears to be the best, in my personal conclusion. Rather than a thousand patchwork updates that would ultimately wind up costing more in the long run, I suspect, (treat) the entire problem as a single problem and attempt to address the whole thing head on."

Fontana said the Public Works department has not determined the total cost to replace all the stormwater lines that have exceeded their service life, since the department repairs what it can when it can.

The Public Works department currently receives $360,000 annually from the city's sales tax to address stormwater issues. In August, the City Council approved $750,000 for additional stormwater crew members and some stormwater projects.

The City Council narrowly voted against placing a stormwater fee on the August 2017 ballot last May. The fee would have been charged on each parcel of developed property from Jan. 1, 2018, to Dec. 31, 2042. For a single-family parcel or single-family duplex parcel, the rate would have been $3.50 per month. If passed by the council and voters, rates would have increased by 2 percent annually on Jan. 1.

In May, some council members said they were worried a stormwater utility fee would not pass since voters had recently passed the tax levy increase to fund a $130 million bond issue to build a new public high school and renovate the existing high school.

Jones-Kaufman agreed it was too early to place a tax on residents and worried additional taxes would deter current and future residents from living in Jefferson City. However, she said she needed to do more research before suggesting long-term funding options.

She instead recommended the council work with the city's Public Works department, both the state and federal emergency management agencies (SEMA and FEMA), and some engineering firms to come up with long-term solutions. She said she did not have specific engineering firms in mind.

"That would be their expertise, and they would know more than the City Council would because, you know, that's their job," Jones-Kaufman said. "They work with emergency management, and stormwater can rise and get real dangerous, so we would need to consult them in order to make sure things are handled appropriately. And they would have the knowledge and experience with stormwater in order to enable us to make an informed decision."

While the city should look at how other communities have addressed stormwater issues like impact or permit fees, Crabtree said, he thinks a minimal citywide tax is the best option. Impact fees - which can be placed on developments in a city - could deter developers from Jefferson City while permit or title fees would not bring in enough money due to the city's population size, he said.

"If you're looking at a comprehensive, citywide solution, a minimal tax would generate quite a bit of revenue and get more people involved in it and not limit potential development," Crabtree said. "I think it's important that we keep it at a minimal level because when I've been visiting with constituents in the 5th Ward, many of them are feeling the struggle in terms of the school bond issue that was passed. And I think we need to be looking at something that is only a $1 or $2 a month. I want to keep the impact on our citizens as low as we can."

Wiseman voted in favor of the stormwater utility fee in May but told the News Tribune earlier this year that if the council is not in favor of placing a utility fee on the ballot, then they need to think of creative long-term solutions. One idea she suggested was using money from a use tax to help fund stormwater projects.

A use tax is a sales tax on goods purchased by Missouri residents from out-of-state vendors where the purchaser pays the tax instead of the seller.

In 2012, the Missouri Supreme Court said cities can collect sales tax on out-of-state motor vehicle purchases only if the cities have local use taxes, so Jefferson City must either receive voter approval to continue the sales tax on out-of-state motor vehicle purchases or pass a use tax. If the city does neither, it will no longer receive sales tax on out-of-state vehicle purchases, losing $240,000 annually, Finance Department Director Margie Mueller said previously. November 2018 is the deadline to enact the local use tax.

Prather, Mihalevich and Fitzwater voted against placing the stormwater utility fee on the August ballot. All three said they did not support the tax as they believed it would have been difficult to pass and would have placed a large burden on businesses and nonprofits.

They said they did not know what the long-term funding solution is for addressing stormwater.