Newton invests almost $500K in stormwater projects since rate implementation

For the past five years that Newton residents have been paying a stormwater utility on their water bills, the city has invested a little less than a half-million dollars on projects to improve storm sewer infrastructure. Public Works Director Joe Grife said last month that even more projects are in the works.

So far, Newton has spent about $485,000 on storm sewer projects, paid out of monthly utility bills. In a presentation to council members, Grife showed the most expensive project to date was the reconstruction of the storm sewer portion of West Fourth Street South, which came out at about $359,000.

Other finished projects include storm sewer change orders for Union Drive at a cost of about $58,000, the storm sewer improvements at the Fairmeadows subdivision for about $35,000 and a subdrain and sump collector project at South Eighth Avenue East for about $30,000. The latter was only recently accepted.

Still, the city wants to do more. Grife noted one of the proposed projects is intake replacements, which will be completed in-house for an average cost of $9,000.

City of Newton also wants to replace the storm sewer intakes in the 1400 block of East Eighth Street North, which Grife estimated would cost $80,000. There are three to four large storm sewers that come together and empty to a nearby creek just south of the storage yard. The project would be bid on by contractors.

“We’re going to be designing the project in-house to bid out and have that completed,” Grife said. “…It’s a pretty big project.”

As of March 31, the stormwater utility fund balance is $157,000. The city projects the balance will be at $117,000 come July. At the start of fiscal year 2027, the fund balance is projected to be at $120,000. Grife said the city is, in a sense, getting by paycheck to paycheck.

Earlier this year, the city council approved a stormwater utility rate increase. The equivalent residential unit (ERU) rate in 2025 is $4.75, which brings in an annual revenue of $625,000. The rate will increase by 25 cents every year until 2029, gradually bringing the annual revenue to $759,000.

“Hopefully we keep building a combination of additional funds in our stormwater utility with maybe some additional funds from some TIF districts and things like that, maybe we can look at doing some of these bigger, million-dollar projects down the line,” Grife said.