Selling Stormwater Utilities
In our article on stormwater utilities in this issue, one expert estimates the United States could have 2,000 utilities in place by 2010. It's an impressive forecast for an entity that barely existed three decades ago. Hundreds of communities, encouraged by their neighbors' successes, now see a utility as the steadiest and fairest way to pay for stormwater services. But getting one started is still a hard-fought battle, and although the concept is gaining in popularity, the legal opposition to utilities is getting more sophisticated as well.
Why have so many fledgling utilities faced legal action? The monthly stormwater fee for a single-family-home lot is generally a few dollars—not enough, you'd think, to motivate the average ratepayer to go to court, although some probably feel nickel-and-dimed beyond endurance. For large institutions, however—schools and universities, churches, federal government installations, and the like—stormwater utility fees can run to thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars a year. In addition, some tax-exempt institutions balk when they find they're not exempt from the utility fee.
Most people (and institutions) do understand the benefits of clean water and streets that don't flood whenever it rains. They tend not to realize how much these things cost, though, and there's often resistance to paying for something that, by rights, they feel ought to be the status quo. Most people just don't feel responsibility for the problem; they're not making it rain, after all.
It's difficult too for people to justify paying for something they can't really see. Unlike drinking water or electricity or one of the many other things homeowners and businesses pay for each month, stormwater services are mostly noticeable when they're not working correctly.
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With other monthly bills, homeowners and businesses can conserve—using less water to save money, for instance—but stormwater services, obviously, don't work this way; there is little choice involved, and the fee isn't waived in the months when there's no rain. Other than specific property improvements to reduce the amount of impervious surface or treat stormwater on-site to reduce the fee—credits that are usually available to commercial and industrial properties, if a utility allows them at all—there's not a lot individual homeowners or businesses can do to control the situation. Runoff is general, and whatever infrastructure improvements a utility makes presumably benefit everyone. No one can opt out of the benefits and decide to stop paying.
So how do new utilities overcome these objections? Four people with extensive combined experience at doing just that discuss strategies on page 12. Education is part of it, including showing people what they're getting for their money and demonstrating that utility fees are likely the cheapest way to pay for it in the long run. Savvy marketing comes into play as well. And finally, as those interviewed point out, the more utilities there are, the more acceptable they seem; eventually, not having a stormwater utility might set a community apart more than having one did back in the '80s or even a decade ago.
Author's Bio: Janice Kaspersen is the editor of Stormwater magazine.
September-October 2004
Selling Stormwater Utilities
In our article on stormwater utilities in this issue, one expert estimates the United States could have 2,000 utilities in place by 2010. It's an impressive forecast for an entity that barely existed three decades ago. Hundreds of communities, encouraged by their neighbors' successes, now see a utility as the steadiest and fairest way to pay for stormwater services. But getting one started is still a hard-fought battle, and although the concept is gaining in popularity, the legal opposition to utilities is getting more sophisticated as well. Why have so many fledgling utilities faced legal action? The monthly stormwater fee for a single-family-home lot is generally a few dollars—not enough, you'd think, to motivate the average ratepayer to go to court, although some probably feel nickel-and-dimed beyond endurance. For large institutions, however—schools and universities, churches, federal government installations, and the like—stormwater utility fees can run to thousands, or hundreds of thousands, of dollars a year. In addition, some tax-exempt institutions balk when they find they're not exempt from the utility fee.
Most people (and institutions) do understand the benefits of clean water and streets that don't flood whenever it rains. They tend not to realize how much these things cost, though, and there's often resistance to paying for something that, by rights, they feel ought to be the status quo. Most people just don't feel responsibility for the problem; they're not making it rain, after all.
It's difficult too for people to justify paying for something they can't really see. Unlike drinking water or electricity or one of the many other things homeowners and businesses pay for each month, stormwater services are mostly noticeable when they're not working correctly.
With other monthly bills, homeowners and businesses can conserve—using less water to save money, for instance—but stormwater services, obviously, don't work this way; there is little choice involved, and the fee isn't waived in the months when there's no rain. Other than specific property improvements to reduce the amount of impervious surface or treat stormwater on-site to reduce the fee—credits that are usually available to commercial and industrial properties, if a utility allows them at all—there's not a lot individual homeowners or businesses can do to control the situation. Runoff is general, and whatever infrastructure improvements a utility makes presumably benefit everyone. No one can opt out of the benefits and decide to stop paying.
So how do new utilities overcome these objections? Four people with extensive combined experience at doing just that discuss strategies on page 12. Education is part of it, including showing people what they're getting for their money and demonstrating that utility fees are likely the cheapest way to pay for it in the long run. Savvy marketing comes into play as well. And finally, as those interviewed point out, the more utilities there are, the more acceptable they seem; eventually, not having a stormwater utility might set a community apart more than having one did back in the '80s or even a decade ago.