Richmond’s Department of Public Utilities (DPU) will be holding a series of community meetings about efforts to establish a Stormwater Utility Program to prevent neighborhood flooding in the future. The city has proposed a new utility rate schedule designed to equalize water and wastewater rates between residential and commercial customers. The proposed cuts would apply to about 70 percent of all residential utility customers for each of the next five years.

The city says that those reductions will help to offset the cost of a proposed stormwater utility fee that would generate funding that can be spent to resolve flooding and drainage issues in numerous locations across the City.

“There is a tremendous need to create a dedicated funding source to address the flooding and drainage issues that are prevalent throughout our community,” said the Mayor. “This revised proposal for a stormwater utility provides a reasonable solution to help prevent those issues in the future.”

The reductions in the water and wastewater rates will virtually offset the cost of the stormwater utility fee for one- and two-person households with an average monthly utility usage, while the rate reductions will help to minimize the cost of the stormwater utility program for larger households.

“We need to bring about equity among the customers of our public utilities so that individuals are only paying their fair share of the expenses, not subsidizing the cost for non-residential customers,” said the Mayor.

DPU Director Chris Beschler will lead the meetings, which will be held in each part of the City and are open to all citizens. Below is the date for the North Richmond meeting, and five other meetings scheduled around town. A recent city press release has more details on the proposal.

Northside: Wednesday, Nov. 7, 2007, from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at the Richmond Police Training Academy, 1202 West Graham Road

Southside: Thursday, Nov. 1, 2007, from 7:00 until 8:00 p.m. at the Southside Service Center, Southside Plaza, 4100 Hull Street

South Central: Tuesday, Nov. 6, 2007, from 7:30 until 9:30 p.m. at Southside Baptist Christian School, 5515 Bryce Lane

West End: Tuesday, Nov. 13, 2007, from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at Mary Munford Elementary School Auditorium, 211 Westmoreland Street

Forest Hill: Wednesday, Nov. 14, 2007, from 6:30 until 8:30 p.m. at Forest Hill Presbyterian Church, 4401 Forest Hill Avenue

Southwest: Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, from 7:00 until 9:00 p.m. at Saint Luke Lutheran Church, 7757 Chippenham Parkway