Opinion ID: 1831572
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: The Propriety of the City's Fee Structure

Text: DOT argues, and the trial court concluded, that the City's ordinance violated section 403.031(17), Florida Statutes, because the fees are not based on the amount of stormwater a customer contributes to the system. We begin with the well-settled principle that the establishment of utility rates is generally a legislative function. Mohme v. City of Cocoa, 328 So.2d 422, 424 (Fla.1976). In setting utility rates, municipalities enjoy a certain latitude. City of Gainesville, 778 So.2d at 525 (citing State v. City of Miami, 157 Fla. 726, 27 So.2d 118, 125 (1946)). A city may charge different rates to different classes of users so long as the classifications are not arbitrary, unreasonable, or discriminatory. City of Miami Springs, 245 So.2d at 81. Section 403.031(17) requires that the fees charged be based on the beneficiaries' relative contribution to the need for a stormwater management system. Acting within its legislative discretion, the City determined that rain does not create the need for a stormwater management system. Rather, the need is created by impervious area, which prevents the rain from percolating into the ground. Therefore, the City properly based its fee on the amount of impervious area on each property. Moreover, in calculating the impervious area, the City acted within its discretion by using statistical estimates to determine that the typical single-family home in Gainesville creates a relatively equal need for a stormwater system. The City determined that the median single-family property in the City included 2300 square feet of impervious area, and based its ERUs on that figure. Those single-family homes that create a disproportionately greater need for the systemi.e., homes with more than 50 percent impervious area and situated on lots with more than 10,000 square feet of total areaare billed separately. Thus, the City's approach is reasonable. Section 403.0891(6), Florida Statutes, expressly authorizes this method of apportioning cost. [4] The evidence showed that most stormwater utilities across the country use ERUs to estimate stormwater use. Courts in other states have upheld such a measurement. See Teter v. Clark County, 104 Wash.2d 227, 704 P.2d 1171, 1179 (1985) (refusing to require the municipality to measure each residential lot to ascertain the exact amount of impervious surface on each one). DOT takes issue with the City's use of a flat rate that does not account for the particular property's actual use of the system. [5] As the First District recognized in considering this issue, however, stormwater runoff, like wastewater and solid wasteand unlike potable water, gas, and electricitycannot feasibly be metered. City of Gainesville, 778 So.2d at 525. In City of Miami Springs, 245 So.2d at 81, we upheld an ordinance setting a flat sewer fee of $7.00 per month for single-family residences and a variable rate based on use for all other users. Other Florida courts regularly have upheld flat rates for utility services. See City of New Smyrna Beach v. Fish, 384 So.2d 1272, 1273 (Fla. 1980) (upholding an ordinance setting garbage collection rates that established a flat rate for single-family residences and multifamily residences of a certain size and a variable rate for all others based on the number and size of the containers); Town of Mexico Beach, 348 So.2d at 42 (upholding an ordinance charging a flat garbage rate for all residential users regardless of whether premises were occupied); Pinellas Apartment Ass'n v. City of St. Petersburg, 294 So.2d 676, 678 (Fla. 2d DCA 1974) (noting that [t]he setting of utility rates is often a complicated process and mathematical exactitude cannot be required). Cases in other states also have upheld rates that do not precisely correlate with actual use. See Home Builders Ass'n of Utah v. City of American Fork, 973 P.2d 425, 429 (Utah 1999) (warning that municipalities must have sufficient flexibility to deal realistically with issues that do not admit of any kind of precise mathematical equality); McDonald Mobile Homes, Inc. v. Village of Swansea, 56 Ill.App.3d 759, 14 Ill.Dec. 102, 371 N.E.2d 1155, 1158 (1977) (upholding sewer fees where single-family residences, apartments, motel rooms and mobile homes were all placed in one classification, and commercial in another, noting that [w]hile we agree with plaintiffs that defendant's method for determining sewer use is not scientifically precise, we believe there is a substantial correlation between water consumption and sewer use and that the Village's scheme for assessing sewer use charges is a reasonable exercise of its legislative authority); McGrath v. City of Manchester, 119 N.H. 109, 398 A.2d 842, 845 (1979) (noting that [t]he fact that absolute mathematical equality is not achieved does not render the system invalid); Watergate II Apartments v. Buffalo Sewer Auth., 46 N.Y.2d 52, 412 N.Y.S.2d 821, 385 N.E.2d 560, 564 (1978) (recognizing that [w]here only an approximation of cost or value is possible, discrepancies may have to be endured in the name of administrative flexibility so long as there exists some rational underpinning on the charges levied). The City also acted within its discretion in creating separate categories for multifamily homes and nonresidential property. For commercial properties, the City actually measures both impervious and semi-impervious area to determine the amount of stormwater runoff. We find nothing irrational in the distinction between runoff from single-family residences, for which the amount of runoff will vary but little from home to home, and those for commercial properties, which may vary more significantly. We have upheld such distinctions between residential and commercial properties in setting utility rates. See Miami Springs, 245 So.2d at 81 (upholding an ordinance setting a flat sewer fee of $7.00 per month for single-family residences and a variable rate based on use for all other users).