Water and sewer customers for

the city of Fayetteville will notice a slight bump on their February water

and sewer bills thanks to the creation of a new stormwater utility to

handle maintenance and improvement of stormwater infrastructure.

Individual homes will be charged

a flat rate of $2.95 per month for the stormwater program. The feel for

all other properties, however, will likely run significantly higher because

the tab will be calculated based on the total square footage of impervious

surface on site.

Preliminary estimates indicate

the city will raise roughly $1 million a year from the stormwater fee,

said City Engineer Don Easterbrook. Before a final number can be reached,

however, the square footage calculations for non-residential properties

must be firmed up, Easterbrook added.

To help with flood control,

the city has already undertaken several stormwater improvement projects.

The level of Lake Pye has been lowered as a stopgap measure while the

city studys the feasibility of using the now-privately owned lake for

flood control. State officials have determined the lake's dam needs

significant repair which the owner has said she cannot afford to fix.

Also, the city's water

and sewer and public works crews have engaged in cleaning up stormwater

channels in the East Fayetteville basin area to help keep them free of

obstructions.

Crews even found a storage

shed blocking the flow of one creek, officials said.

For a household using 7,500

gallons of water a month, the combined water/sewer bill is $44.28, so

the additional $2.95 a month fee for stormwater represents a 6.6 percent

increase. Households using 15,000 gallons of water would accrue a bill

of $74.65, and the stormwater fee would affect a 3.9 percent increase

on that bill.

Ellen Jones, assistant director

of finance and administrative services for the city, said there are roughly

5,000 residential water and sewer customers in the city of Fayetteville.

There are approximately 1,000 non-residential customers also on the system,

she said.

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