The City of Peoria is also looking for a way to do regular maintenance and upkeep on its aging storm water collection system. The city is considering a storm water utility fee.
Peoria Public Works Director Mike Rogers says an average household fee of $4.55 a month would create annual revenue of $4.8 million for the city.
“So if you then have a management plan you can then do a lot more projects throughout the city. Actually you're going to eliminate the catastrophic problems that might occur in the future.”
Rogers says the city will hire a consultant later this year to study the matter. Part of that 18 month long process will include public input.
The city is also still negotiating with the U.S. EPA to settle on a remediation plan for its combined sewer outflow. That is expected to cost somewhere between $160-Million and $550-Million over a 15 to 25 year period. By comparison, the city’s entire budget for 2014 is $188 Million.