Puget Sound Stormwater Utility Fee and Stormwater Program Budget Dataset

Abstract

This data collection was compiled to support Puget Sound National Estuary Program planning efforts and provide a baseline for tracking of recovery progress. A key Puget Sound National Estuary Program recovery strategy is to increase funding for stormwater management by supporting the development and/or expansion of local (i.e., county and municipal government) revenue streams. However, when this strategy was developed there was a notable lack of data about how local stormwater programs were funded; total funding levels; how many jurisdictions charged Stormwater Utility Fees (SUFs); and how often SUFs are increased. The Puget Sound Institute project team aimed to close these data gaps by compiling detailed information about SUF rate structure and fees charged, stormwater program revenue by source, and expenditures for operations/maintenance and capital expenses.

This data collection includes 13 files. Metadata for each file are provided in this data description. “Spreadsheet_1 _SUF_data” provides 2019 and 2020 rate structure and fee data for the 124 local jurisdictions in the Puget Sound watershed. “Spreadsheet_2_Budget_data” provides 2019 data on stormwater program revenue by source and expenditures for capital versus operations and maintenance expenses. Budget reports were obtained for 80 jurisdictions, but only 14 included sufficient detail to classify expenditures. Spreadsheets 3-13 contain raw parcel data for 11 jurisdictions downloaded from county assessor offices, parcel-level impervious area estimates, SUF calculations for all parcels in each jurisdiction (2019), and impervious area-normalized SUF calculations ($ per ft2 impervious area) for all parcels in each jurisdiction.