2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee

20190901-194043_Alameda-SanLeandroChannel.jpg

Since the early 1990s, the City’s Clean Water Program has maintained our storm drainage infrastructure which protects our homes, properties and streets from local flooding, and ensures our beaches and the Bay are protected from trash and pollutants caused by urban runoff during rain events.

The program is currently funded by an annual storm drainage utility fee that has not increased in 15 years, while costs have increased significantly. As a result, expenses exceed revenues and operating reserves are nearly depleted. Without any action, Alameda’s Clean Water Program could fall into disrepair, risking an increase of flooding, the safety of our neighborhoods, and the cleanliness of our water and beaches. The existing fee, which appears on annual property tax bills, is $56 per year for the typical Alameda home. To continue to maintain our storm drainage infrastructure, the City is proposing an additional storm drainage fee called the 2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee. This additional fee would be $78 for the typical Alameda home, for total fees of $134 per year - which is $11.17 per month.

The notice and other links below provide additional information about the fee’s purpose, its amount, and the process by which property owners will decide whether to approve the fee. If the measure is approved, the fee would fund a balanced approach to meeting our storm drainage infrastructure challenges such as repairing and updating pump stations (some of which date back to the 1940s), maintaining 250 new trash capture devices, and improving our lagoon system to keep our neighborhoods safe and healthy. As with the existing fee, the proposed new fee would be dedicated only to our storm drainage system and cannot be used for any other purposes. Without additional revenue, the City will not be able to meet these challenges and will be forced to eliminate and/or significantly cut existing programs such as street sweeping and storm drain maintenance.

On August 28 and September 10, the City organized community meetings at Mastick Senior Center and Leydecker Park Recreation. To view the presentation from these community meetings, please download the PDF(PDF, 3MB) or PowerPoint.       

If you have any questions about this process, contact Sarah Henry at 510-747-4714 or shenry@alamedaca.gov.

View / Download Notice of Public Hearing 2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee(PDF, 577KB)
View / Download 2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Fee Report(PDF, 2MB)
View / Download July 16, 2019 Staff Report
View / Download Frequently Asked Questions About the 2019 Water Quality and Flood Protection Measure
View / Download Clean Water Fact Sheet(PDF, 85KB)
View / Download Presentation materials from community meetings(PDF, 3MB) (PDF)
View / Download Presentation materials from community meetings(PPTX, 40MB) (PowerPoint) 
View / Download October 1, 2019 Staff Report
View / Download Stormwater Ordinance with Exhibit(PDF, 2MB)
View / Download Ballot Guide(PDF, 544KB) and Ballot(PDF, 103KB)

Crew at the outfall