The Board of Trustees of the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District (MSD) took action last night on a revised budget for Fiscal Year 2011.
The board approved a total of $15.5 million in cuts. This is in direct response to a July 2010 court ruling that invalidated MSD’s impervious stormwater rate. MSD expected to collect $48 million in stormwater funding under the impervious rate in FY 2011.
The cuts include $8.2 million from the MSD operating budget, as well as $7.3 million from the stormwater capital budget. The cuts take effect immediately. MSD plans to implement the cuts without employee layoffs. However, there will be cuts in outside contracts, and a hiring freeze has been implemented.
The impervious stormwater rate has been suspended, and the board recently took steps to reinstate the former method of stormwater funding. This includes a combination of flat charges and taxes.
The suspension of the impervious stormwater rate means that MSD’s ability to respond to stormwater complaints is now severely limited. Customers who reside inside the Interstate 270 corridor will see limited stormwater service. However, customers who reside outside the Interstate 270 corridor will see basically no stormwater service. This is due to limited taxes collected in that area.
In addition, there will be cuts in stormwater projects. Limited stormwater projects are planned for inside the I-270 corridor. No stormwater projects are planned for outside the I-270 corridor due to limited taxes collected in that area. Funding for stormwater projects is expected to run out in June 2012.