Cincinnati, Ohio - Communities United For Action and its allies are appointed to a Impervious Surface Fee (ISF) Stakeholder Working Group initiated by the Hamilton County Commissioners in 2019 to make recommendations on sewer rate restructuring. Hamilton County appointed two working groups: one with governmental agencies, and one with "stakeholders," ranging from community groups to parking lot owners. On December 10, the "stakeholder" group met to discuss the framework under which changes to sewer rates and stormwater management services may be made. 

Read more on what CUFA knew about the two working groups after the September 2020 meeting here.

What we know now: 

The Stakeholder group meet last week (Dec. 10) to discuss the document Pathways for Consideration Wet Weather Fees and Collaborative SW Management, a draft summary of the considerations for potential rate and service changes. The document lays on no specific proposals for sewer rate changes and no timeline for changes to be made to make rates more equitable for residential ratepayers.

Here are the notes and slides from the December 10 meeting:

• December 10 Slides
• December 10 Meeting Summary
• Clarification on "Consensus" process for Stakeholder group

Bob Park, a representative of the Sierra Club and fellow ISF Stakeholder followed up with a few questions about the consulting firm, Raftelis, who was hired to convene the government agency and stakeholder groups, and Black & Veatch, a firm the Metropolitan Sewer District (MSD) frequently uses for sewer rate studies: 

1. A copy of the latest Black and Veatch Stormwater Fee Survey;
2. A list of jurisdictions where Raftelis has worked that have gross (total) area components to their stormwater fee; and
3. A copy of the Raftelis scope of work.

Here is the information all stakeholders received from Raftelis in answer to Park's request (click the links to download): 

1. Black and Veatch Stormwater Utility Survey;
2. List of jurisdictions where Raftelis has worked on stormwater rate structures.
3. The scope of Raftelis' work.