Drafter
Clerk 09/23/2024
Title
AN ORDINANCE regarding surface water management; revising surface water management service charges; amending Ordinance 7590, Section 8, as amended, and K.C.C. 9.08.070 and establishing an effective date.
Body
STATEMENT OF FACTS:
1. King County works in partnership with property owners and state and federal agencies to minimize the impacts of storm and surface runoff on the water quantity and quality of the waters of the state.
2. King County charges property owners within its surface water management service area, which is unincorporated King County, a graduated fee based on six nonresidential rate classes tied to relative amount of impervious surface and one uniform rate class for all residential parcels.
3. In 1986, Ordinance 7590 established the surface water management program to provide a comprehensive approach to surface and storm water problems including "basin planning, land use regulation, construction of facilities, maintenance and public education." In 1991, Ordinance 10187 increased the services provided by the surface water management program and set a rate structure and service charges. In 2001, Ordinance 14261 acknowledged that the costs to provide surface water management had increased due to the ordinary impacts of inflation and due to increased and more stringent federal and state requirements for the proper management of surface water quality and quantity. In 2006, Ordinance 15638 acknowledged that the then soon to be effective new National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit would require King County's compliance with more stringent requirements. In 2010, Ordinance 16958 acknowledged that costs had increased to comply with the stringent requirements of the National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit and to meet the ordinary impacts of inflation. In 2012, Ordinance 17451 acknowledged that the surface water management program had increased capital construction needs, increased costs of National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System permit compliance, and revenue losses from annexations of unincorporated county areas to cities. It also acknowledged that the King County road services program had identified construction needs to mitigate stormwater impacts and that these capital projects were necessary to protect life and property as well as to maintain or restore water quality and ecological functions in receiving waters. Ordinance 17451 also incorporated changes to the rate adjustment program that provided incentives to property owners to improve on-site control of stormwater through the granting of additional discounts. In 2016, Ordinance 18401 acknowledged the residential parcel fee charged by King County was insufficient to meet the projected revenue requirements needed to provide necessary surface water management services to protect public health and safety. In 2018, Ordinance 18836 acknowledged that the residential parcel fee charged by King County did not provide an adequate level of funding to mitigate the impacts of degrading stormwater infrastructure comprised of grey and green elements and that the proposed increase would help continue improving stormwater infrastructure to a higher level of service. In 2022, Ordinance 19543 acknowledged that the residential parcel fee was inadequate to cover inflationary increases in the surface water management fund and it did not provide an adequate level of funding to continue to build upon ongoing efforts to mitigate the impacts of degrading stormwater infrastructure comprised of grey, which are facilities and systems, and green, which are natural lands, forests, bioswales, and rain gardens.
4. The current rate of three hundred and twenty-three dollar per single family residential parcels is inadequate to cover inflationary increases in the surface water management fund, and it does not provide an adequate level of funding to implement the requirements of the new National Pollution Discharge Elimination System permit or to address deferred maintenance of existing stormwater facilities to prevent failures in the system. The proposed increase of approximately eleven and seven hundred sixty-five thousandths percent will help continued efforts to improve the stormwater infrastructure to sustain existing level of service.
5. An increase in the base amount of the surface water management charge from three hundred and twenty-three dollars to three hundred sixty-one dollars per residential parcel in 2025, a thirty-eight-dollar increase over 2024, and corresponding adjustments in the rates for classes of nonresidential property, are needed to provide necessary surface water management services to protect public health and safety.
6. It is in the public interest, and is necessary for the protection of health, safety, and welfare of the residents of King County, that the necessary costs of providing surface water management services continue to be funded and that such costs continue to be charged against those parcels either benefitting from such services or contributing to the increase of surface water runoff, or both, which the King County surface water management program must address.
7. Parcels owned by federally recognized tribes or members of such tribes that are located within the historical boundaries of a reservation are not subject to the surface water management charges provided for in K.C.C chapter 9.08.
BE IT ORDAINED BY THE COUNCIL OF KING COUNTY:
SECTION 1. Ordinance 7590, Section 8, as amended, and K.C.C. 9.08.070 are each hereby amended to read as follows:
A. The service charges shall be based on the relative contribution of increased surface and storm water runoff from a given parcel to the surface and storm water management system. The percentage of impervious surfaces on the parcel, the total parcel acreage and any mitigating factors as provided in K.C.C. 9.08.080 shall be used to indicate the relative contribution of increased surface and storm water runoff from the parcel to the surface and storm water management system. The relative contribution of increased surface and storm water runoff from each parcel determines that parcel's share of the service charge revenue needs. The service charge revenue needs of the program are based upon all or any part, as determined by the council, of the cost of meeting stormwater permit obligations of state and federal law and the cost of surface and storm water management services and to pay or secure the payment of all or any portion of any issue of general obligation or revenue bonds issued for that purpose.
B. The division shall determine the service charge for each parcel within the service area by the following methodology:
Residential and very lightly developed nonresidential parcels shall receive a flat rate service charge for the reasons in K.C.C 9.08.060. Light to very heavily developed parcels shall be classified into the appropriate rate category by their percentage of impervious surface coverage. Land use codes or data collected from parcel investigations, or both shall be used to determine each parcel's percentage of impervious surface coverage. After a parcel has been assigned to the appropriate rate category, the service charge for the parcel shall be calculated by multiplying the total acreage of the parcel times the rate for that category.
C. There is hereby imposed upon all developed properties in the service area annual service charges as follows:
SURFACE WATER MANAGEMENT SERVICE CHARGES
Class Impervious Surface % Rate
Residential NA (($323.00)) $361.00/parcel/year
Very Light 0 to less than or equal to 10% (($323.00)) $361.00/parcel/year
Light greater than 10% to less than (($898.04)) $1,003.69 /acre/year
or equal to 20%
Moderate greater than 20% to less than (($1,680.99)) $1,878.75/acre/year
or equal to 45%
Moderately greater than 45% to less than (($2,868.55)) $3,206.03/acre/year
Heavy or equal to 65%
Heavy greater than 65% to less than or (($3,996.00)) $4,466.12/acre/year
or equal to 85%
Very Heavy greater than 85% to less than or (($4,916.64)) $5,495.07/acre/year
equal to 100%
County Roads NA Set in accordance with RCW 90.03.525
State Highways NA Set in accordance with RCW 90.03.525
The minimum service charge in any class shall be ((three hundred and twenty-three dollars)) three hundred sixty-one dollars per parcel per year. Mobile home parks' maximum annual service charges in any class shall be ((three hundred and twenty-three dollars)) three hundred sixty-one dollars times the number of mobile home spaces.
D. The county council shall review the surface water management services charges biennially to ensure the long term fiscal viability of the program and to guarantee that debt covenants are met. The program shall use equitable and efficient methods to determine service charges.
E. When a parcel with impervious surface is divided by the boundary of the service area and a portion of the parcel's impervious surface drains into the service area, the parcel shall be charged as otherwise provided herein on the basis of the lands and impervious surfaces that drain into the service area. When the director has determined that the impervious surface of a parcel, divided by the boundary of the service area, completely drains outside of the service area, the parcel is exempt from the rates and charges of this chapter.
F. The King County council by ordinance may supplement or alter charges within specific basins and subbasins of the service area so as to charge properties or parcels of one basin or subbasin for improvements, studies or maintenance that the council deems to
provide service or benefit the property owners of one or more basins or subbasins.
SECTION 2. This ordinance takes effect January 1, 2025.