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Table 14 (at the end of this section) summarizes the activities and efforts of the overall implementation program. Information in the table is not the entire body of work the City conducts or will do in the area of storm water management. Rather, the table provides a summary of the some of the key efforts needed to help achieve the goals of this Plan. Estimated planning -level costs of recommended actions are provided with a cautionary note that they are not intended to set unrealistic expectations of the actual costs of projects and/or activities. The costs provided are intended to serve as an order -of- magnitude look at what the activity may require. Paying for water management projects and administrative activities has become more complex in recent years. In addition, public improvement and private development projects are seeing a higher percentage of their planning and construction budget being needed for water resources and environmental protection efforts. In the past, special assessments against benefited properties financed most of the necessary improvements. However, the financial options have broadened considerably. The question is which method or methods best suit the needs of the City. The major categories of funding sources are: Ad Valorem Taxes; Special Assessments; Storm Water Utility; and Grants, as summarized below. • Ad Valorem Tax. General taxation is the most common revenue source used to finance governrnent services, including minor maintenance measures for drainage and water quality facilities. Using property tax has the effect of spreading the cost over the entire tax base of a community. A special tax district can also be used to raise revenue. The special tax district is similar to the administrative structure under general taxation except that all or part of the community may be placed in the tax district. The principle is to better correlate improvement costs to benefited or contributing properties. • Special Assessments. Municipalities are familiar with the use of special assessments to finance special services from maintenance to construction of capital improvements. The assessments are levied against properties benefiting from the special services. The philosophy of this method is that the benefited properties pay in relation to benefits received. The benefit is the increase in the market value of the properties. • Trunk Storm Sewer/DevelopmentFees. Fees charged to new development that generates runoff can be charged to finance infrastructure needed to serve the development. This is a useful tool in communities that are rapidly developing. • Storm Utility Fee. A utility is a service charge or fee based on usage, similar to the fees charged for sanitary sewer or potable water supply. The fee is typically charged against improved parcels based on the concept of contributors (or users) pay. The rate structure is based on the land use type, density, and parcel size to reflect the typical runoff contributed by a given parcel. In some cases parcels may be eligible for a credit to reduce their fee. • Grants. State grants are available for surface water management and non -point source pollution. However, it is generally not a good financial practice to rely on grants for a service program. This source of revenue is not dependable and requires constant speculation as to its availability. Grants are useful but should only be used to supplement a planned local revenue source. Some of the agencies and programs that may have available grant funds include: — Environmental Protection Agency — Watershed Districts — U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service — Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Comprehensive Surface Water Management Plan ROSEV120222 City of Roseville Page 30