Joey Garrison

USA Today Network - Tennessee

Monthly water bills of most Nashvillians will go up after action by the Metro Council to approve Mayor Megan Barry’s plan to increase revenue to pay for stormwater projects.

By a voice vote, the council approved an increase of the city’s monthly stormwater fee that is intended to address a $207 million backlog of stormwater projects. No one signaled disapproval.

Needs include a wide-range of work aimed at managing the city’s aging rain drainage system, parts of which date back 150 years: clearing storm drains, enclosing ditches, repairing pipes, removing trees and restoring drains. Some are necessary to comply with state and federal environmental rules.

Stormwater fees, a line-item tacked onto water bills, will increase for 85 percent of Nashville’s homeowners and three out of every four businesses in town.

The increase marks the first time the city’s stormwater fee has been changed since it was first adopted under former Mayor Karl Dean in 2009. It will more than double the city’s annual intake of stormwater revenue, from $14.4 million to $34.6 million per year.

Stormwater fees are determined by the amount of impervious surface area on a property. This includes rooftops, parking lots, sidewalks and driveways that limit the entry of water.

Barry has called her fee overhaul a more “modernized and equitable stormwater fee,” which the Metro Water and Sewers department has taken in the lead in pushing.

Under the plan, Nashville’s largest property owners will feel the brunt of the increase, with rates of smallest property owners staying the same.

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The majority of Nashville property owners pay a $3 monthly stormwater fee under the existing model. That will double to $6 under the structure approved Tuesday.

Davidson County has the fourth-largest municipal stormwater system in the nation, but has deployed the nation’s fifth-lowest stormwater fee. Memphis, Chattanooga and Charlotte, N.C., have greater fees than Nashville.

“It brings us more on par with some of our comparable cites,” Councilman Jeremy Elrod, chairman of the council’s Public Works Committee, has said. “And I also think it brings out more parity as far as the fees. The larger the property, the more you’re going to be paying.”

Fees will go up for all residential properties with more than 2,000 square feet of impervious area and all nonresidential properties with more than 6,000 square feet. Increases vary based on the amount of impervious area.

Residential ratepayers with less than 2,000 square feet of impervious surface will continue paying $1.50 per month under the mayor’s plan. Ratepayers with less than 400 square feet will continue having no stormwater fee.

Monthly rates are currently capped for nonresidential property owners at $400 regardless of size. This cap will increase under the new plan to $1,300 a month for nonresidential owners with more than 1 million square feet.

Fifty-five nonresidential owners fall into this top category. Some of the largest include Ryman, which owns the Gaylord Opryland Resort & Convention Center and Opry Mills; Vanderbilt University; and the Nashville International Airport.

Reach Joey Garrison at 615-259-8236 and on Twitter @joeygarrison.