The system for dealing with stormwater in New Orleans is hundreds of years old and isn’t getting any younger.
The Sewerage and Water Board of New Orleans (SWBNO) says it’s short about $50 million per year for maintaining drainage, and that gap will only widen with a tax expiring next year.
Public officials, experts and advocates all agree a stormwater fee is needed, but there are many ways to do it.
Here’s why officials are considering a stormwater fee and the different proposals being considered.
What is a stormwater fee?
Drainage is currently funded through three millages that bring in about $75 million per year combined. One of these millages expires at the end of 2027; another expires in 2031.
But tax-exempt properties such as churches, the Superdome, hospitals and universities do not have to pay. The Bureau of Governmental Research (BGR), a non-partisan research organization, estimates 37% of New Orleans properties are not currently paying into drainage.
Some of those properties contribute the most to stormwater runoff, because they have large areas of impervious surfaces — land where water can’t seep into the ground and runs off into the drainage system.
”Finding ways to make all the numbers work has been a real difficult problem for the city and the Sewerage and Water Board, and that's led to this conversation about a stormwater fee, which a lot of cities around the country, hundreds of cities, large and small, have adopted,” said Stephen Stuart, BGR’s research director.
A stormwater fee would apply to all properties. Instead of being calculated based on property value, it would be based on property size and the amount of impervious surface on the property. This ensures that properties contributing more to stormwater runoff pay more.
It’s also an opportunity to bring in more funding for green infrastructure, using natural systems to manage stormwater.
The New Orleans City Council needs to pass a resolution to put the stormwater fee on the ballot, leaving it up to the public to vote. The Mayor’s Office hopes it will be ready in time for elections next Spring before the millage expires.
What makes a good stormwater fee?
A BGR report earlier this year outlines what’s necessary to effectively implement a stormwater fee in New Orleans. Stuart said it starts with a well-crafted proposal to convince the public that paying the fee is worth it, and it includes three key elements:
First, there needs to be a clear spending plan for the funds, so that the public knows where their money is going before they’re asked to pay.
“ A good spending plan in our view would cover both gray and green infrastructure,” said Stuart.
Second, the public needs to be able to understand how the fee is calculated, so people know what they have to pay and why. That calculation also needs to be fair and not increase costs for those who are already overburdened in the city.
Councilmember Aimee McCarron, chair of the climate committee, said that’s the number one consideration the council is looking into.
“ It has to be equitable,” she said. “So if we add a fee and it adds on additional costs for homeowners that have been paying into the system for so long, then it's really not gonna work out.”
Third, Stuart said it’s crucial that the money is managed transparently to build trust with the public. Stuart highlighted the high level of public distrust in SWBNO, so transparency and accountability will be essential to get a stormwater fee in place.
“There's regular reporting and oversight of the money so that people can see where their dollars are going, see the impact it's making and how it's improving overall the protection of their homes and businesses,” he said.
SWBNO’s plan
SWBNO did not respond to numerous requests for comment. Neither did Raftelis, the consulting firm hired to design the fee structure, which is still working on it and hasn’t yet publicly presented the full plan.
Raftelis has been working on the fee since 2022. According to the most recent update in May, SWBNO is proposing both consolidating the three millages into one tax, which would be 15% lower than the current millages, and then also implementing a fee calculated based on property size and impervious surface area.
To not overburden taxpayers, the fee would also be lowered by subtracting the amount paid in the consolidated tax from the fee.
“The key for this proposal is the taxes and the stormwater fee are connected and can go up or down depending on what you pay,” said Jamie Parker, SWBNO’s Chief of Staff. “We’re exploring and continuing to collaborate on perhaps another approach to ensure that we’re generating additional revenue that’s needed, but also doing it with affordability and equity in mind for customers.”
In late May, SWBNO extended Raftelis’s contract for the third time to keep working on the fee, raising their contract from $96,000 to $1.6 million.
The mayor’s plan
When Raftelis’s contract was up for extension, Mayor Helena Moreno asked SWBNO to have the contractor look into a parcel fee instead.
A parcel fee is a more general term for a fee that is assessed based on property. Moreno wants the fee to be able to fund other infrastructure outside of drainage, such as drinking water lines, or even roads and street lights.
At first, SWBNO refused, but Steve Nelson, the Deputy Chief Administrative Officer of Infrastructure and the Director of Public Works, said that after explaining how a parcel fee would interact with the stormwater fee, the board was more open.
“There’s some added flexibility with a parcel fee concept, and [it] also takes into account the fact that it's not just stormwater that is affected, but also roadways, sidewalks, light signals and the water infrastructure that's beneath those roadways,” said Nelson.
Instead of being used solely for maintaining drainage, the money would go to a list of capital improvement projects that the public and City Council would help shape beforehand.
A new law passed this year moved SWBNO under the oversight of the City Council. McCarron is on the transition team and said they are looking at having the council manage the utility’s budget. In that case, City Council would oversee the fee’s revenue, rather than SWBNO.
“We would look at the priorities of the Sewerage and Water Board, what they need to fix and then how we would allocate this money to help them get those things done,” said McCarron.
Nelson said Raftelis is now finishing the stormwater fee and looking into a parcel fee. It will need to figure out how to calculate the parcel fee. That could look like a Transportation Utility Fee, which property owners pay based upon estimates of how many vehicle trips the property generates, or something else.
The Water Collaborative’s plan
The Water Collaborative of Greater New Orleans, a local nonprofit, came out with its plan for a stormwater fee a couple of years ago — the Water Justice Fund.
”What makes the Water Justice Fund unique is that it was completely co-developed alongside the community,” said Jessica Dandridge, the executive director. “So over 350 community members contributed to the policy documents. We've door-knocked over 15,000 individuals either via phone or in person to help us shape what residents really wanna see in a fee.”
Like SWBNO’s plan, the fee structure is also based on impervious surface area and property size.
“Our plan is not all that different from Raftelis’ plan in terms of how to finance it, except for we don't think residents should be paying into the system first,” Dandridge said. “We need to be focused on tax-exempt properties, getting them on the system.”
This would allow the fee to be tested and any issues to be worked out before having regular residents start paying.
The Water Collaborative’s plan also provides exemptions for property owners who can prove annually that they would be unfairly burdened financially by the stormwater fee. It also recommends creating a new office or department to oversee the fee, as well as a community advisory board to advise the city on the implementation of these funds.
In addition to filling SWBNO’s funding gap, some of the funds would be used to incentivize owners to increase the permeability of their properties, as well as on green infrastructure projects and community improvement programs.
“We have a larger emphasis on nature-based solutions, resilience and climate preparedness than, say, the other plans,” said Dandridge.
The nonprofit estimates its fee would bring about $40 million annually.
“ It's ready to go. We had the legal analysis. We looked at what's possible. We looked at the financing structures, and we did look at the legal language, and it was ready to be on the ballot,” said Dandridge.
She said the nonprofit has been able to present this information to every council member except for J.P. Morell.
“We're looking at [the Water Collaborative’s plan] as well because I think it's all-encompassing,” said McCarron. “And I think it's just a matter of once we finally dial into what the picture looks like, whether it's parcel or stormwater management, then we would have a better idea of what things from their report that we would be able to incorporate.”
Jocelyn Burgess contributed to this report.
Editor’s Note: The audio version of this story states SWBNO has a gap of $20 to 30 million a year. This is based on BGR’s estimates from January. The web story has been updated to reflect SWBNO’s most recent estimate of approximately $50 million.
