From Allen Dinkel, City Manager
The storm that came through this area earlier this week reminds us of the reason there is a need for the Storm Water Utility. We will continue this week with discussing other City utilities and how they all fit into the overall operation of the City of Junction City. Storm water is one of those charges that shows up on your City bill each month, that we probably get the most questions about.
In August of 2017, the City adopted Ordinance No. G-1027 relating to Stormwater Management. In that time period there was a push at the Federal and State levels on the quality of storm water. I won’t go into all of the science and regulations, but terms such as the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination Process (NPDES) became common as the quality of the water that runs into the storm system in communities was being focused on. Basically, the City became responsible for the quality of storm water and actions were put in place to improve on the quality. Run-off from construction sites became a concern and efforts were made to other practices in place to eliminate issues in storm water. Even today we do focus on quality and samples are collected on a routine basis of the water in the rivers “above” the city and also “below” as storm water leaves the City. Again, there are many regulations to follow.
Back in that time period, many cities formed a Strom Water Utility. A stormwater utility is a legally authorized "public enterprise fund", adopted by ordinance and is similar to the water and sewer utilities. It was established to finance the construction and/or reconstruction of portions of the storm
water system in that given City. Storm water fees are charged just water or waste water fees.
I was not in Junction City when this Utility was put into place and charges were assessed. I understand there was “thoughts” that a storm water treatment plant was needed. Not an issue yet, nor do I think it is an issue in the near future. Of course, that is also dependent on the efforts we all make to keep the storm water “clean”. There are some that apparently felt that the storm water utility fees were only going to be for a few years. I have no idea how that was ever a possibility as there is a constant need to improve the storm water system as well eliminate erosion issues.
The most recent storm water project was the repair of Price’s Ravine om the east side of North Jackson Street between the City’s Park Department Building and the City Water Plant. Erosion over the years had eaten into the north bank and the chain link fence on the “Park’s” side was literally hanging in the air and before long the erosion could have affected the building foundation under the building. On the south side the erosion was moving the water stream towards the lime lagoons which are to the north of the water plant. Simply, we would have had a “mess”. This project was necessary, but not cheap and the total cost of the work was in the $1 Million dollar range.
Another recent project was the improvement of drainage on Eisenhower Street. Again, needed to be done, but costs exceeded $300K. One project that maybe in the future is the improvement of Rimrock Dam at Homer’s Pond. Personally, I think it is not an issue, but the Kansas Department of Agriculture declared it as a “High-Risk” Dam. If the pond held just a little less water it would maybe not be an issue, but they are looking at their regulations. We will see what happens with that project in the future.
The storm water utility fees are on each month’s “City” bill. For those parcels without a “City” account, such as a vacant lot, the fee is treated as a “Special Assessment” and billed to the property taxes. For residential properties the fee is $7 per month, but business and commercial properties are higher based
on square feet of the property. Even though not as well understood, this utility is important to the City.
The other City utility service is trash. Now there are cities who do not operate a “City” owned service, but we do here in Junction City. What makes us a bit different is that private companies are also allowed to operate in the City. Frankly, I don’t know how that ever happened, but never the less it is done that way here. The downside of this is that on any given street, there could be 2 or 3 trash trucks on the street or alley in any given part of town. That of course can cause more wear and tear on these surfaces. The crews on our trash trucks could be consider “unsung heroes ” as they work with garbage and other their work is done in “less than ideal” weather conditions. The City trash is hauled to the Geary County Transfer Station and then shipped to a Landfill near Topeka.
I mentioned above there are private firms who also “do” trash here. Of course, we understand they operate the business to make a profit. This profit is never a benefit to our community. On the other hand, on the City trash service, fund transfers are made to the General Fund. In recent years some of these funds are being utilized to make sidewalk and alley improvements. There will be an alley project in 3 blocks in the business district on 6th Street later this year.
We have made it through all of the utilities. I hope I have shared some good info. In the coming weeks we will see if we can tie this all together in the City “package.”