Whether spurred by regulatory requirements or local concerns many local governments are faced with growing stormwater infrastructure maintenance and rehabilitation needs and meeting increasingly stringent water quality requirements. Raftelis can help municipalities and management districts develop stable funding strategies to serve customers over the long term. Our services range from setting up new utilities and fees to modifying existing rate structures accounting for stormwater cost drivers to assisting local governments with integrating bond funding into long-term plans and bond sales.
Raftelis helps municipalities and management districts develop funding approaches that are tailored to local stormwater needs. Whether you are just starting to differentiate stormwater service delivery from street maintenance or water/wastewater or you have a well-established stormwater program and are aiming to improve service delivery, fee structures, or customer service, Raftelis can help evaluate alternative policies, benchmark stormwater programs and policies, document and improve business processes, and develop and implement new programs.
Raftelis has repeatedly and successfully implemented stormwater fees for large and small local governments, with a variety of billing methods in communities with different concerns, varying data quality, and differing goals for funding structures and incentives. One of Raftelis’ particular strengths is in developing processes and software that enable stormwater billing on legacy utility and tax billing systems.
We also work with local government counsel on the development of ordinances that authorize or update existing stormwater utility policies.
Click here to view our brochure on stormwater development and support.
An important aspect of program development is defining exactly which historic and future activities are included in a particular program. For some of these programs, and stormwater in particular, services are provided in a distributed manner by different departments, unlike most other government activities, such as transportation or fire protection. For these and other challenges, such as determining appropriate levels of service for non-metered services from solid waste to stormwater, Raftelis has used a variety of approaches to help clients define these services for estimating costs and new utility development.
Raftelis also assists with regulatory compliance by supporting client interaction with regulators, developing permit-based programs and activity timelines, and performing compliance activities such as public involvement and outreach.
Raftelis also specializes in assisting with customer and public relations during utility development, implementation, and post-go live periods with our expertise in public outreach, stakeholder facilitation, and customer service provision.
Ask any stormwater utility manager and you’ll hear that the capital budget they prepare each year often falls short of the true flood protection needs their community has. As storms increase in intensity and frequency, the infrastructure needs those stormwater experts see are growing. It’s a case of not enough funding and competition for resources with other critical municipal programs.
Raftelis completed a cost-of-service rate study for Dallas Water Utilities (DWU). Additionally, Raftelis has been engaged by the City to study and implement a stormwater rate structure change.
Raftelis has provided alternative rate structure analyses and comprehensive financial planning services dating as far back as 2005.
