The city’s Department of Utilities will hold a public information session Thursday, Sept. 17, at 6:30 p.m. at City Hall on a proposal to change how stormwater services are paid for.
Newport currently funds stormwater through the sewer rate. The proposal would create a separate stormwater fee based on how much of a property is impervious — rooftops, driveways, parking lots — using what’s called an Equivalent Residential Unit methodology. The department says the aim is to tie costs more closely to what actually generates runoff.
The session, titled “Rate Structure and Fairness,” is the third workshop in the city’s stormwater utility review. It will cover how the ERU method works, examples of how different property types would be affected, and questions raised since the April workshop.
The city maintains thousands of catch basins and roughly 55 miles of storm drainage, monitors outfalls, responds to flooding complaints and has to meet state and federal water quality requirements.
No rates or fees have been adopted. Any change would require two public hearings before the City Council.
Materials from previous workshops are at utilities.newportri.gov.
