Suggested Option: Stormwater Service Fees

 

The stormwater fees we pay every month on our utility bills are independent from the City’s General Fund and are not impacted by changes in state or federal funding. There is plenty of scientific evidence that demonstrates the contribution trees make to the dispersal of rain and the retention of stormwater. There is also evidence that shows the cost of restoring urban forests, especially along streets and in strategically located places where water currently runs across impermeable space without vegetation into waterways, is far less than trying to capture the same water in drain pipes for transmission to expensive treatment plants. The tiering of land and the addition of trees between highways and waterways can reduce the percentage of contamination flow to near zero.

 

It is understandable that the City has found it difficult to fund millions of dollars to plant trees when the General Fund is consistently stressed by so many other priorities, and inflation increases the cost of all governmental services. It is also reasonable that the City has reserved the funds accumulated from Stormwater Service Fees collected by Tacoma Power Utility from both residential and commercial customers to address critical needs in our stormwater collection and treatment system. The City has, however, recognized the direct relationship between stormwater service fees and trees as mitigation to stormwater runoff by funding a number of urban forest improvement projects, budgeting money from City Stormwater Fund #4301.

 

We suggest the City increase its use of Stormwater Service fees to restore its urban forest.

 

1. Trees Directly Reduce Stormwater Runoff. The direct impact of trees and the soil their roots occupy can be quantified. This comprehensive study published by Ecohydrology showed:

• Trees planted over open, impervious surfaces, such as parking lots, could reduce stormwater runoff by as much as 20 percent. Branches and stems can capture and store up to 15 percent of total rainfall.

• A large tree can capture and retain as much as 332 gallons of water. The estimate assumes the widest part of the tree’s crown is 33 feet.

• Up to 75 percent of the water output from a parking lot rain garden was due to tree transpiration.

• Rain clings to leaves. In some species the effect is minuscule, in others the film is relatively thick – up to a thousandth of an inch (2.24 mm).

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2. Other Cities in Washington use Stormwater Fees to Fund Urban Forest Restoration. The City of Snoqualmie’s funding for its urban forestry program with surface and stormwater management fees is just the most recent stage of a long journey the City has been on since 2010 to develop an urban forestry program. Tacoma has a good Urban Forest Management Plan that must be fully funded. This is a way to do so without affecting the budget funded by the General Fund and without the need to raise taxes.

 

3. The City’s Wastewater & Stormwater Fund has accumulated a net position of more than half a billion dollars. These financial highlights are from the City’s 2024 Wastewater and Stormwater Annual Financial Report: 2024 Stormwater Financial Report

 

• In this 2024 data, you can see that the fund’s net position was nearly $600 million dollars at the end of 2024, up $65 million during the previous two years.

• That unused increase could likely fund the entire addition of the one million trees needed to reach a 30% canopy in Tacoma.

 

Financial Highlights

• Total net position is $590.7 million on December 31, 2024 compared to $558.5 million on December 31, 2023, as restated, and $524.8 million on December 31, 2022.

• Operating revenues were $146.6 million in 2024, compared to $136.3 million in 2023, and $129.5 million in 2022.

• Cash and equity in pooled investments was $236.9 million on December 31, 2024 compared to $228.7 million on December 31, 2023 and $225.6 million in 2022.