The City of Essex Junction is forming a stormwater utility to create a fair, equitable, and stable source of funding for stormwater management that is paid by all properties, including tax-exempt. This initiative is in response to State-mandated permitting, which requires the City to manage and decrease the amount of stormwater runoff entering local waterways and Lake Champlain.
Over the past few years, the permit requirements and aging stormwater infrastructure have led to an increase in the general fund budget. To address this, the proposal to create a Stormwater Utility aims to separate these fees from the general fund. The utility fee would apply to taxable and tax-exempt properties and be dedicated to funding essential stormwater infrastructure and administrative costs. While this is a new fee, the stormwater expenses in the general fund (i.e., paid for via the tax levy) will be removed in the future except for the City's own stormwater fee that it will be responsible for paying. However, overall expenses are likely to increase in FY26 in order to fully meet the permit requirements.
The stormwater utility fee would be structured similarly to water or sewer fees and is based on a property’s impervious surface, which contributes to stormwater runoff. It would also be part of the utility bill sent tri-annually for sewer and water use. The Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU) has been established as the standard unit of charge. For single-family homes, duplexes, and triplexes, the charge will be 1 ERU. Non-single-family residential property fees will be calculated based on their measured impervious area. A credit manual is being developed for non-single-family properties to provide incentives for stormwater management practices. This manual will offer up to a 50% credit towards fees for eligible properties.
The City anticipates presenting a Stormwater Utility ordinance at an upcoming City Council meeting in October. For updates on the stormwater utility, visit the stormwater utility page.