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The city held a public hearing July 7 on its 18% stormwater fee increase, which takes effect Aug. 1.
A trio of Eugene residents voiced disapproval of the city’s stormwater fee increase during a sparsely attended public hearing on the planned hike Monday, July 7.
The residents joined the noon Zoom meeting to share concerns about the proposal to raise property owners’ monthly stormwater fees by 18 percent, which Eugene councilors already approved in May to help shrink the city’s budget gap. The fee hike takes effect Aug. 1 and is scheduled to expire in 2031.
About 23 people — including city staff — attended Monday’s meeting, which was scheduled nearly two weeks ago. But just three residents offered public comment.
Nancy Pierce, who lives near the Friendly neighborhood, expressed her support for the city services, including the library, the stormwater fee hike helped preserve during Eugene’s 2025-27 budget talks. But she criticized using the stormwater fee to sustain those services, calling the approach “insane.”
“There has to be a clearer way so that [stormwater and public services are] not tangled up and in the future, it’s clearer what people are supporting and what they’re not supporting,” Pierce said.
City councilors first allowed Eugene’s stormwater fee to support parks and open spaces in 2024. They raised the fee earlier this year to cover $1.1 million in parks spending, and the newly approved increase frees up $4.7 million in general fund money to preserve services such as the Sheldon Community Center and Amazon Pool for the next two years.
Lisa Crawford said she couldn’t support the fee hike given ongoing drainage problems at her two properties.
At one home near Irvington Drive, she said stormwater floods her driveway while nearby storm drains remain “bone-dry.” At another in the Bethel-Danebo neighborhood, she said, stormwater collects in open ditches that erode residents’ yards.
“It is pretty frustrating to even think about entertaining such an increase when I’m not even getting the service,” Crawford said.
She later asked whether the city plans to assess properties that lack storm infrastructure, like developed roadways or storm sewers, as part of the rollout. City officials said they couldn’t respond to the question, given the rules of the hearing, but will send out answers “centrally” after the meeting.
Another resident criticized Eugene’s reliance on city fees like this one to fund services. Unlike Oregon’s capped property taxes, the resident said, Eugene officials can raise stormwater fees without limit, building resentment among residents, especially seniors.
“I do believe the city of Eugene has found the perfect method to force a tax on its citizens without any recourse,” he said.
City officials have long pointed to Oregon’s 3% property tax cap as a major reason for Eugene’s recurring budget shortfalls. Property taxes make up 71% of the city’s general fund revenue, and since measures limiting property tax in Oregon passed in the 1990s, growth in those revenues has significantly slowed.
Marion Suitor Barnes, public works public affairs manager, said late last month the city does not plan to hold another public hearing on the stormwater fee increase.
City Manager Sarah Medary will review submitted public comments and either adopt the fee increase as proposed or modify it, as long as the changes comply with the fee-setting standards in Eugene’s code, a city staffer said.
