Sammamish City Council Asks Schools to Help with Environmental Outreach for Surface Water Fee Waiver

Sammamish parents concerned that the city was going to collect about $115,000 in surface water fees from the for 2009 and 2010 can breathe a sigh of relief: The last week decided not to collect the money.

The Sammamish City Council on May 16 entertained a motion to waive the fees for Issaquah School District campuses on the Plateau. The water fees so far this year are about $43,500, which would make the total an estimated $158,500.

The fees help maintain the city system that handles water once it leaves private property, Laura Philpot, city public works director said.

But elected leaders opted to have the Issaquah and Lake Washington school districts pursue environmental educational outreach that the city is required to undertake in exchange for waiving the fees for the two systems.

“The charges are going to be offset by education programs and or capital programs,” Mayor Don Gerend said last week in an interview.

“We’ll get reports every biennium as to what we got for the surface fees.”

The issue of money and the Issaquah and school districts is particularly heightened these days, given that state lawmakers need to close a more than $5 billion budget shortfall.

That shortfall is translating into fewer state dollars for public schools and the real possibility of teachers losing jobs, particularly in the .

The Seattle Times reported that a tentative agreement among state lawmakers was reached Monday and more details of the budget compromise will be released Tuesday.

In an April letter of "significant" concern to the city of Sammamish, Issaquah Superintendent Steve Rasmussen said that storm water fees were charged to and  - but not the other district campuses in Sammamish.

City staff explained that King County handles billing for Sammamish and they were looking into why that happened.

"The City has always waived stormwater management fees associated with school district properties based on the fact that school districts provide certain school curriculum regarding surface water resources and the effects of urbanization," Rasmussen wrote.

In a memo to the City Council, city staff wrote: "While collecting fees in the future is consistent with neighboring jurisdictions and with other types of utilities, it should be done uniformly to all schools and districts and advance notice should be provided to the districts so they may plan and budget appropriately."

Under the waiver plan approved last week, city officials hope the school districts can help Sammamish meet its education requirement under the Clean Water Act.

“We’re going to tell them what is required of us and hopefully, they can tailor their programs to help us,” Philpot said in an interview.

City staff will need to present reports to the City Council on how this initiative is working.