Car dealerships and other businesses with expanses of pavement are being hit hard by the El Paso Water Utility’s new storm water utility charges that popped up on bills this month.

If the city and water utility’s Public Service Board determine that the impact of the stormwater fees on businesses is too great, the charges may have to be adjusted, City Manager Joyce Wilson said.

The fees are projected to raise $20.9 million in the fiscal year that started March 1.

“I am definitely looking at this right now,” Candice Nelson, controller for the Mack Massey dealership across Interstate-10 from Sunland Park Mall, said after Newspaper Tree called and asked her to check the company’s bill.

She was surprised to see that the stormwater charge for March came to $1,015.

That pushed the dealership’s total water bill from $1,071 in February to $2,187 for March.

It went unnoticed, she said, because the company’s overall utility charges were about the same as the prior month, when heating bills were significantly higher.

“This is ridiculous,” Nelson said, looking over the PSB bill. “I can’t believe this.”

The bill says nothing about how it was calculated, she said.

“They give you no basis for it. I guess we take their word for it,” she said on hearing that the charge for nonresidential customers is based on the square footage of impervious area – pavement and buildings – on a given property.

South West city Rep. Beto O’Rourke said he has gotten complaints from car dealers, among other businesses, and that the utility’s CEO, Ed Archuleta plans to meet this week with a group of new car dealers about the charges.

“One dealer said he felt he got blind-sided by this,” O’Rourke said. “He was very upset.

“As good a job as we did getting the word out, on something that was going to affect business as much as it did, we could have gone the extra mile and should have gone farther than we did.”

City Manager Wilson said she too has heard complaints from shocked business people, and that the PSB may have to do more than conduct another round of public information meetings.

“It may be the PSB will have to go back and recalculate how they are calculating the commercial charges and to evaluate the overall impact,” Wilson said.

The issue raised by the car dealers is on top of concerns raised by other government entities that were not exempted from the stormwater district. About three weeks ago, the Housing Authority of the City of El Paso received a briefing on its legal options regarding participation in the district. [npt march 25, 2008]

PSB not counting complaints

Hector Gonzalez, the water utility’s government affairs manager, said many complaint calls have come in from people who were unaware that the stormwater charges were coming and wanted an explanation.

Newspaper Tree asked last week for a count of the complaints.

But Karol Parker, the spokeswoman for the water utility and the El Paso Public Service Board, which oversees it, said they have not kept track of the number of complaints that have come in regarding the stormwater utility charges.

“Our customer service manager said they do not itemize the calls,” she said. “They just count the calls coming in, but don’t keep track of the topic when the person calls in.”

At last week’s City Council meeting, East Valley city Rep. Eddie Holguin demanded that the utility conduct a round of at least three public meetings to explain the stormwater charges to El Pasoans.

As a result, the water utility will conduct five such meetings:

-- Tuesday, April 22, Westside Regional Command Center, 4801 Osborne Drive

-- Wednesday, April 23, Northeast Regional Command Center, 9600 Dyer Street

-- Monday, April 28, Pebble Hills Regional Command Center, 10780 Pebble Hills

-- Tuesday, April 29, City Hall – 10th Floor Conference Room, 2 Civic Center Plaza

-- Wednesday, April 30, Mission Valley Regional Command Center, 9011 Escobar Drive

“The whole reason for the fee is to be able to have the necessary funds to rehabilitate the stormwater system, clean up ditches, upgrade dams, to improve upon the conditions that have long been neglected, resulting in the 2006 flooding,” Gonzalez said.

The fees will also go toward repaying bonds sold to finance millions of dollars in set-up charges, new equipment and new flood control and drainage projects.

Of the $20.9 million to be raised in the first year:

-- $10.3 million will go for master planning and capital expenses, including equipment. (Capital expenses are expected reach $50 million by 2010.)

-- $8.2 million will go to establishment, maintenance and operation of the stormwater utility, including a staff of 105, 45 of whom were transferred from the city.

-- More than $2 million will go to the preservation of arroyos and green space.

Slightly less than 60 percent of the total will come from commercial, industrial, other local governments, and farms and ranches, while the rest will come from residential customers.

Here is a breakdown of the monthly stormwater fees being added to PSB bills:

-- Commercial charges are $4.85 for every 2,000 square feet of impervious area.

-- Residential charges are $2.38 a month for a home up to 1,200 square feet, $4.75 for residences of 1,201 to 3,000 square feet and $9.50 for houses more than 3,000 square feet in size.

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David Crowder can be reached at dcrowder@epmediagroup.com and 351-0605