City Council Moves Forward with Stormwater Management Fee Proposal

At its Dec. 8 meeting, the Manassas City Council established a stormwater management fund and budget and passed the first vote for a proposed stormwater management fee to be added to residents’ utility bills.

A second vote is required to approve the proposed fee, which is scheduled for the council’s Monday, Dec. 15 meeting.

The fee proposal predicts the following amounts will be added to Manassas residents’ current utility bills:

• $4.08 to single family detached homes
• $2.61 to townhouses and mobile homes
• $2.04 to apartments and condos
• $4.08 per 2480 square feet for non-residential properties

Councilman Jonathan Way mentioned at the meeting that the tax, while relatively low now, may increase in the future. Way also noted that this fee is the city’s way to deal with an unfunded mandate.

“We really don’t have a practical alternative,” Way said at the meeting. “We have to comply with the Chesapeake Bay Cleanup Requirements and … this is the best way we’ve come up with.”

Councilman Harrover disagreed with Way, saying “It’s not the best way we could come up with, it’s the best way the state came up with.” He then explained that he intended to vote against the tax because state and federal governments refuse to pay for the stormwater management requirements.

Harrover was the only council member to vote against the stormwater management fee.

The Department of Public Works held a first public hearing on Nov. 17 to discuss the proposed fee, which the department said would help the City of Manassas reach State and Federal Regulatory Requirements. That meeting was not properly advertised which led to this second public hearing, Dec. 8.

If approved, the stormwater management fee will be used to “to construct, operate and maintain stormwater control facilities” in Manassas.

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