Stormwater utility fees may be more challenging for localities to collect without a mechanism for enforcement – especially in those cases where the stormwater utility fee is issued as a separate bill. The City of Richmond’s utility fee structure has been in place for over 3 years. For the most recent fiscal year which ended in June, the City collected only 64 percent of what it billed, which is about one quarter less than the collection rate of nearly 85 percent during the utility’s first year. Therefore, the stormwater program funded by the fee is currently at a deficit of $6.8 million from projections.
More about the City’s amnesty program as well as how the City has dealt and plans to deal with property transfers and rented/leased properties can be found in the Richmond Times-Dispatch article below.
