The ordinance approves a stormwater utility fee of $2.00/month per residential household. Impervious areas that are not single-family residential households are charged based on their equivalent amount of pavement as compared to an average household. For example, if you have a gas station that has twice as much impervious area as Rincon’s average single family residential property, your fee will be two times that of the residence or $4.00. Impervious surfaces are areas covered by parking lots, pavement, rooftops, and other features that prevent water from slowly entering the ground. Conversely, pervious surfaces such as landscaping, grass, and undeveloped areas allows much more runoff to seep in the ground, and do not add to pollutants that the stormwater management plan seeks to reduce.

The fees will be paid through the water bill.

Fees are directly proportional to the service the City provides to the residence. Services are necessary in proportion to the stormwater runoff. Stormwater runoff is most influenced by the total impervious surface area of each parcel.

The stormwater utility shall provide stormwater management services for existing and proposed public stormwater management systems and facilities, subject to funding availability and policy considerations made in the best interest of the public health, safety and general welfare, and of the environment. Additionally, the stormwater utility may accept the responsibility for providing stormwater management services to private stormwater management systems and facilities, acceptance of which conforms to policies established by the mayor and city council.

Through a Coastal Incentive Grant, impervious areas were measured for representative single-family residences in Rincon. Engineers found that the average impervious area (features such as pavement or roof tops) to be 3,000 square feet. All single-family residential units pay the same $2.00. The ordinance establishes 3,000 square feet as the Equivalent Residential Unit (ERU). If a development has ten times the amount of impervious area as the average representative single-family development it is said to have 10 ERUs and is therefore charged ten times the fee or $20/month.

Stormwater utility information:

179 jurisdictions in the southeastern U.S. have stormwater utilities (Average rate: $3.88).

62 stormwater utilities established in Georgia are known to charge fees (Average rate: $4.25).

5 jurisdictions in coastal Georgia have stormwater utilities: Hinesville ($5.86), Garden City, Statesboro ($3.95), Richmond Hill ($4.75), and Brunswick ($4.75).

Rincon’s stormwater utility fee is $2.00 (ERU).

No! In fact, the City of Rincon hopes that each parcel manages their own stormwater. However, this is many times cost prohibitive, thus the reason Rincon provides the service. If you do not use the services of the City, the City will gladly remove the fee associated with your property. Some people do this, not only to reduce the fees, but also to do their part in making sure their property does not contribute to the total pollutant load, and runoff volume to the City’s stormwater system.

Click the button below to download a manual describing how to get the fee removed or discounted.

Adequate funding has not been identified for projects, even with the stormwater fee. Therefore, the timing on when a particular project may be implemented is unknown at this time. You can view our projects page and submit an idea for a project by clicking the link below.