SAN DIEGO — The City of San Diego could be looking to taxpayers to fix the city's stormwater system after the storm on January 22 overwhelmed that system and flooded neighborhoods.
City Council President Sean Elo-Rivera says he’s hoping to put a tax on November’s ballot to increase funding to the city’s outdated stormwater system.
“The consequences of not properly funding our stormwater system are significant. There’s the threat to lives and property, which we saw come to reality 2 weeks ago and the days to follow," Elo-Rivera said.
And he says there’s more to come if we don’t take the necessary steps to properly fund the system.
The city says its current stormwater fee is .95 cents per household per month.
Last week San Diego Mayor Todd Gloria said the real cost for projects to address flooding and water pollution is more like $10 per month per household.
He says the city collects about 1/10th of what other California cities do for stormwater system revenue.
Elo Rivera says, “What we’ve talked about is creating dedicated revenue.”
Why can’t the City use money from the tax revenue it currently gets from residents?
Elo-Rivera says maintenance and planned capital projects go by the wayside to address pipe failures or emergency situations so there’s a backlog of projects.
Elo-Rivera says right now the City of San Diego has a $1.6 billion stormwater infrastructure deficit.
"A big reason why our streets look like they do is because of our stormwater system. Because our system is so antiquated it's constantly leaking onto our roadways and potholes are more likely to occur as a result of this stormwater system," Elo-Rivera said.
This proposal is for dedicated funding. That means by law, it has to go to what it is dedicated toward.
The city council looked at a similar tax measure two years ago, but polling showed there was not enough support for a two-thirds approval to pass it, so it was dropped.
City leaders hope after what everyone saw on January 22, they’ll want to pay a tax to update the system.
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