How do you propose that the city pay for its stormwater program? Ward B Candidates Respond

How do you propose that the city pay for its stormwater program?
Responses from Waynesboro’s Ward B City Council candidates

Bruce Allen: I think it needs to come out of the general fund. I really don’t want to see a stormwater utility tax be added, because once it becomes a utility tax, it seems like it’s forever. Our stormwater and our infrastructure - these are core services we have to provide for the citizens of Waynesboro. That’s the bottom line. They have to be provided.

Chris Graham: I think we need to look at the utility fee. I’m not comfortable with the current structure of that fee. I think we can look at that more in depth, because the business and industry community has raised questions about that, and I think we need to listen to that, and listen to what they’re saying. But I don’t like the fact that we’re right now competing with the general fund. We’ve already seen that what had been a somewhat ambitious first year of this program, $1.2 million or $1.3 million associated with some of the projects there, because we’re competing with general fund dollars, we’ve cut that back about half, or a little bit more. And so, we’re not going to get as much bang for our buck in that sense, and I think that’s because we’re competing with the general fund. At the same time, the utility fee, I think we need to look at the formulas that we have there. I think it is fair to spread it out to business and industry and our residents. I just think we have more work to do there, and I don’t know that that’s going to get resolved in the current budget cycle, but if I’m elected, that’ll be a priority for me next year to really study that fee and work with other council members to implement a fair system so that we can get the job done but not kill our economy or kill our residents or businesses in the process.

Greg Bruno: I’m in favor of the stormwater utility, with the credit system for existing stormwater facilities that the company has done. But the important part about that is that our engineers evaluate what that company has done to make sure it is as effective as what the city would have done. I believe that putting the stormwater costs into the general fund puts the burden on the property taxpayers - the citizens - rather than on the businesses. It’s unfairly distributed when it’s put into the general fund. Most other cities do use utilities for stormwater-type expenses, just like they do the same thing for sewer and other utilities. So, logically speaking, that’s the best way to distribute the costs. Now the way that we would avoid putting too large a burden on businesses is basically what our city manager has already done and that is to reduce the amount of expenditures that are being made per year, so that it doesn’t hit the taxpayers all at once. You reduce it somewhat, but you try to get as much done as you can. It’s going to have to be a balancing act by the council, but in the end, you’ll end up getting the work done with the least negative impact to the citizens and the businesses.