Pullman property owners may soon be paying a fee to fund the city’s stormwater program.

At the Pullman City Council meeting tonight, Pullman Stormwater Services will present a revised stormwater ordinance, which will cost property owners less than the ordinance proposed in June.

“Everyone is concerned about the impacts state-mandated permits will have on families and businesses,” said Rob Buchert, Pullman Stormwater Services Program manager. “We listened to the feedback we got and went back to the budget and compromised.” Buchert said the revised ordinance includes commercial credits and grants combined with a lower stormwater fee.

“The goal by early 2009 is to generate income to maintain a stormwater infrastructure in Pullman to meet the requirements of the new permit,” he said.

PSSP posted the ordinance and proposed rate schedule on the Pullman City Web site under the Oct. 21 council meeting agenda. The rates will depend on property sizes, which is measured by Equivalent Residential Units, according to the draft ordinance.

Aside from lowering stormwater fees, the new proposal includes adding detention ponds and grassy areas to parts of the city to contain stormwater and incorporating bio-filtration systems to treat the water. The city is attempting to pass a stormwater ordinance before it enters year three of its 5-year permit cycle, Buchert said. The cycle began in February 2007.

Gene Patterson, air and water quality manager at the WSU Environmental Health and Safety Department, said the main problem with the first draft of the ordinance was cost. He said understanding where the money is going and why will be essential to passing a new ordinance.

“We want to work with the city and do what’s fair and justifiable,” he said.

The Environmental Protection Agency first mandated stormwater regulations for cities with more than 100,000 people in 1987. The law expanded to cities with more than 50,000 people in February 2007, while providing states with the right to include smaller cities. Pullman became one of these smaller cities. The state Department of Ecology gave Pullman $75,000 to begin the program, but city councilman Keith Bloom said the continuing cost of stormwater management will reach at least $4 million by the time it’s completed.

“We can buy equipment and hire people and impose fines and restrictions, but no one with any certainty can tell us if the stormwater will be one degree cleaner,” he said.

Bloom said Pullman’s topography is highly susceptible to stormwater problems because its steep hillsides are highly erodible and sediment carried into local streams turns into a clay that is difficult to filter. He said attempts have been made to clean the water using mineral additives, but they are expensive, inefficient and contain pollutants.

“The sediment comes from exempt acres of farmland, not the city,” Bloom said. “Other communities of equal size are not required by federal law to follow these new regulations, which is an unfair burden because other cities can meet the requirements more easily.” Bloom said Pullman is joining with other cities to contest stormwater pre-development discharge standards, which imposes high taxes to new or remodeled businesses.

“This is a phony tax where we’re gonna pay for something we’re not getting any benefit from,” he said. “And it’s gonna kill economic development.”