Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee FAQs

The City receives approximately 7% of the total property taxes collected on property located within the City. These revenues, along with sales tax revenues contribute to the general fund. As the Clean Water and Storm Protection program is currently operating at a deficit, your property and sales taxes are funding the general fund to make up the difference. In doing so, your taxes are being used not only for clean water and storm protection on your property, but also on the properties of others. Establishing a new property related fee to achieve cost recovery creates a means to ensure each property owner pays only for the benefit received, and does not subsidize another property owner’s benefit.

As described in the question above, the general fund is partially funded by both parcel and sales tax revenues. Currently, these revenues are being used to fund the Clean Water and Storm Protection Programs and every Cupertino resident is helping to pay for these programs not only for their parcel(s) of properties but also for the parcel(s) of others. Continued use of the general fund for these purposes will cause public improvements to facilities such as parks, streets and other publicly used assets to be either reduced, delayed or not funded. Establishing a new fee to achieve cost recovery creates a means to ensure each parcel pays only for the benefit received, and does not subsidize another parcel. As the general fund would no longer be subsidizing clean water and storm protection costs, other public assets would benefit.

The new fee is based on the amount of impervious surface on your type of property. The fee for your property (or for each of your properties if you own more than one) was printed on the ballot you received through the mail in May. The new fee for a single family home on an average size lot is $44.42 per year in addition to the current single family amount of $12 per year.

Single-Family Residential

Single-Family Residential category also includes du- tri- and four-plex units.

Non-Single-Family Residential

Non-SFR parcels are charge per the tenth of an acre or portion thereof.

Low Impact Development Adjustment

Low Impact Development Adjustment only applies to condominium and non-single-family properties.

No. You will continue to pay your existing fee ($12 per year for residential). The new 2019 Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee will be in addition to what you are currently paying. If the City had proposed an increase of the current $12 fee to $56 per year, the City would have risked the fee being voted down altogether, and could have lost the $12 fee from 1992 which is currently covering a portion of the cost to provide clean water and infrastructure maintenance that prevents property flooding.

As stated above, the fee for a single family home on an average size lot will be $44.42 per year. This is in addition to the $12 per year currently paid or a total of $56.42 per year for the first year. This rate compares favorably to the rates in other Bay Area cities, which are about $150 in Burlingame, $164 in Palo Alto, $92 in San Jose, and $109 in Santa Cruz. Some cities, such as Sunnyvale, do not charge a stormwater related fee and instead charge all costs to their general fund.

Until 2010, the revenues received from the fee established in 1992 were almost enough to pay for operations and maintenance, with only a small amount needed each year from the general fund. Since then, as Federal clean water requirements and other costs grew, the amount required from the general fund has continued to grow. Currently the general fund contribution far exceeds the amount of revenue generated by the existing fee. The City attempts to keep rates for property owners as low as possible. We proposed this fee increase because the storm water program is at a critical point and requires a fee increase to maintain and enhance preventative maintenance and to provide better clean water programs.

Yes, the fee will allow for program enhancements. These may include use of newer, more effective and eco-friendly street sweeping vehicles, increased proactive maintenance and inspection of aging infrastructure to prevent costly repairs in the future, and enhancements to environmental education programs currently provided to 3rd graders.

No. The proposed new 2019 Clean Water and Storm Protection fee, if approved, will be a dedicated source of funds that can only be used for the Clean Water and Storm Protection Program. This money cannot be taken by the County or the State, and the City cannot use these funds for any other purpose.

Owners of property in the City of Cupertino which will be charged the new fee received one vote, for each such parcel, on the proposed 2019 Clean Water and Storm Protection measure.

Ballots were mailed to property owners around May 20, and ballots had to be received at City Hall by July 5, 2019 at 5:00 pm in order for a vote to be counted. Post marks did not count. Property owners that chose to mail in your ballot were encouraged to mail it a week early to allow time for delivery.

After the close of the balloting period on July 5, the ballots were tabulated and the results were announced at the July 16, 2019 City Council Meeting. City Council enacted Ordinance No. 19-2183 establishing the Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee.

Transparency is important to the City Council. The funds from this new fee will be accounted for separately in an account dedicated to clean water and storm protection services. By law, the revenue from this fee cannot be taken by the County or State, and cannot be used by the City for any other purpose. The City strives continuously to find the most cost-effective ways to achieve the goals of this program. The expenditures for this program will be audited annually, and will be subject to an annual review by a citizens’ oversight committee. The city has also established program performance measures to ensure the Clean Water and Storm Protection program is achieving desired goals.

The storm drainage system, intended for flood control, directs rainwater runoff from streets, roofs, sidewalks, etc. into our creeks, Bay and ocean. The storm drainage system provides no water treatment prior to discharge, unless the inlet is fitted with a trash full capture device. The sanitary sewer system transports sanitary waste water from toilets, sinks, baths, showers, industrial processes, etc. to a water treatment facility and final discharge to the San Francisco Bay. The City of Cupertino owns and operates the storm drainage system and does not own or operate a sanitary sewer system. The Cupertino Sanitary District provides sanity sewer services to the majority of parcels in the City.

This new fee is needed to sustain the clean stormwater program and improve basic operations and maintenance of the storm protection system. The City will address how to pay for needed capital improvements in the future. This fee will free approximately $800,000 of general fund revenues for public use, which may include stormwater infrastructure improvements.

The current fee covers only a small portion of the clean water and storm protection operations and maintenance expenses in the City. If the new fee had not passed, the level of service for operation and maintenance may have been reduced. As costs continue to rise this program would have competed against other priorities, such as public safety, parks, and roads, for general fund dollars. The impacts of these reductions could have resulted in more costly reactive repairs, streets being subjected to flooding, slower response times for staff to clear blocked inlets and pipes, increased litter on the streets, and more trash and pollutants in our creeks and the Bay.

The law does not allow exemptions for seniors or for other purposes. They must pay their proportionate share of the clean water and storm protection costs just like they pay their water, sewer, and garbage bills. The only parcels that will not be assessed the Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee are those the engineers have determined do not contribute stormwater runoff into the City's storm drainage system. However, the City Council has directed staff to develop rebate program for low-income households which will be funded by separate revenues.

This measure is a property-related fee, rather than a tax, as defined by Proposition 218, which was written by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association and approved by voters. Because it is a property-related fee, it was voted on by property owners rather than registered voters, and it required a majority (over 50%) of the votes cast to pass. The fee will appear as a line item on the annual property tax bill for all affected properties in 2019/20 tax year.

To fund the maintenance of its clean water and storm protection infrastructure, the City has relied on its 1992 storm drainage fee. This funding source cannot be adjusted for inflation, and it has not been increased since it was implemented over 25 years ago. As a result, the revenue it provides has not kept pace with increasing costs and regulatory standards, and the City's stormwater fund has been operating at a deficit since 2013.

To provide sufficient funding for the operations and maintenance to this critical component of our local infrastructure, the City proposed this balloted and specially dedicated funding source.

Proposition 218, the "Taxpayers Right to Vote on Taxes Act," which was written by the Howard Jarvis Taxpayer's Association and approved by voters in 1996 as an amendment to the California Constitution, requires a mailed ballot proceeding any proposed new or increased Fee. This ballot proceeding is being conducted according to the requirements established by Proposition 218. A ballot and ballot guide were mailed to all property owners who must pay the Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee.

Yes. Proposition 218 and the Howard Jarvis Taxpayers Association have clearly specified that the ballots are a public record. However, the balloting procedure will be established so that, to the extent possible, any property owner’s balloting information will not be distributed, except in the case of a specific request to review or audit the ballot results, or as otherwise required by law.

Yes, they are. The rates are based on how much impervious surface your property contains. Impervious surfaces are those which don’t absorb rain water such as rooftops, driveways and sidewalks. The rate for all property categories ends up being approximately $475 per acre of impervious surface. For a typical residential parcel of 0.17 acre (about 7,405 square feet) with 55% of its surface being impervious, that works out to a $44.42 annual fee. For a commercial property of ten acres with 85% of its surface being impervious, that works out to a $4,038 fee. More details about the amount of imperviousness for each rate category and other attributes can be found in the Fee Report(PDF, 3MB).

• First, the ballots were returned by mail directly to the City of Cupertino City Clerk and kept in a safe place until the tabulation.
• Second, the ballots were tabulated under the supervision of the City Clerk, who will certified the results.
• Third, the ballots will be kept for a period of two years. By law, the ballots are a public record. Therefore, if anyone questions the ballot outcome, the tabulation can be independently reviewed and confirmed.

Property owners returned their ballots in either of the following ways:

1. Mailed it to the address shown in the enclosed, postage-paid return envelope so it was received on or before July 5, 2019.
2. Delivered it in person, during regular business hours, by July 5, 2019 before 5:00 pm to the City of Cupertino City Clerk’s office at 10300 Torre Avenue, Cupertino, CA.

Only official ballots that were signed, marked with the property owner’s support or opposition, and returned in a timely manner to the tabulator, were counted. Ballots were tabulated under the direction of the City of Cupertino City Clerk (Tabulator) beginning on or around July 8. The tabulation was open to the public.

Of the valid ballots submitted by the deadline, a simple majority (more than 50%) of the number of parcels with a proposed fee greater than $0 voting in favor of the Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee were required for the measure to pass.

The results of the ballot tabulation were announced at the July 16, 2019 City Council Meeting.

Yes. Under the rules of Proposition 218, this funding measure was voted on by property owners, not registered voters. Therefore, you did not need to be registered to vote in order to vote on the Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee.

Ballots can list up to 14 parcel numbers. Property owners that own more than one piece of property with the same mailing address received one ballot with up to 14 of their properties listed on the ballot as well as the Fee for each property. When you cast your ballot, you were casting for all of your properties listed on the ballot.

City Council directed staff to develop rebates for low-income households. This provision is scheduled to be considered at the City Council Meeting on August 20, 2019.

The Clean Water and Storm Protection Fee includes strong fiscal safeguards and multiple layers of accountability to ensure that all the funds are used only for the stated purposes. Steps to assure accountability and fiscal control include:

• The proceeds from this measure will be placed into special restricted funds and cannot be used for any other City services
• Each year the City Council must review the fiscal status and needs of the storm drainage system to set the fee levels for the following year
• The funds from this measure will be locally controlled and cannot be taken by the State or any other agency
• Independent annual audits will be conducted

To be counted, ballots had to be received by 5:00pm on July 5, 2019. This deadline applied regardless of whether the ballot was mailed or hand-delivered.

The City adopted procedures consistent with Proposition 218, which specifically state that in order to count, the ballots must be completed and signed by the record property owner of the parcel(s) identified on this ballot or by the owner’s authorized representative and must be received by the Ballot Tabulator before the designated time. Unsigned ballots cannot be counted.

If you submitted a ballot but wish to withdraw it, you must submit your request in writing to the City Clerk. The request for withdrawal must include your name, property address, and the Assessor Parcel Number(s) on the ballot(s) you wish to withdraw. You must provide proof of ownership for a ballot to be withdrawn. Any such request for the withdrawal of a ballot must be received before 5:00 pm, July 5, 2019. The following are acceptable forms of documentation:

• Property Deed
• Title Report
• Settlement Statement (HUD)