The Maple Valley City Council unanimously approved a surface water management rate increase at the Sept. 8 meeting.
The increase is 50 cents each month per ERU or equivalent residential unit beginning in 2010 and $1 more per month in both 2011 and 2012.
According to Public Works Director Steve Clark residential property owners currently pay a flat fee of $85.02 for a parcel per year.
The increase will mean the fee jumps to $91.02 in 2010, 103.02 in 2011 and 115.02 in 2012.
The fee is collected by King County and appears on a residents property tax statement.
The commercial surface water management fee increased by the same amount, but is calculated differently.
Clark stated in an e-mail,”Commercial property owners pay on an incremental scale based on how much of their parcel is impervious or hard, (buildings, roads and parking lots for example) and the size of the parcel.”
The city is mandated my the federal Clean Water Act to set up a surface water management program. The Clean Water Act was passed in 1972 and was initially directed at industrial pollution in streams and rivers.
The regulations now include commercial and residential surface water management to reduce pollution of waterways.
