Common Council will hear a presentation from Strand Associates of Madison at next Thursday's meeting before being asked to approve the consultants to work on developing a stormwater utility for Portage.

Council's Municipal Services and Utilities Committee voted Thursday to recommend Strand, which placed a bid of $47,938. The bid includes all work involved in developing a stormwater utility task force, developing a feasibility study and implementing the utility.

City residents could receive their first stormwater utility bills in August if the timeline proposed in the meeting comes to fruition.

The utility, if adopted by the city, would help raise money for future state-mandated stormwater management through a fee levied much like the water utility. Stormwater costs are currently paid through taxes, although several people at Thursday's meeting said a fee-based structure is a better way to go.

"The parcels that are generating the most runoff are paying their fair share," said Strand project manager Mark Shubak.

A fee-based system would add tax-exempt properties into the mix. That means the school district, nonprofits and religious organizations would join the ranks of those paying for stormwater management.

Although some of those groups might not be happy with an additional bill, City Administrator Larry Plaster said it is a truly fair way to manage the cost.

"It is a more equitable way to deal with stormwater issues," he said. "If you believe in user fees, it make sense. Under the fiscal restraints of what exists in Wisconsin, it makes sense."

Committee Chairman Rick Dodd said the issue of stormwater management has been discussed since before last spring's epic floods. According to Strand's presentation, a utility will help the city protect drinking water, reduce flooding and rehabilitate the Portage Canal, to name a few.

More than 60 Wisconsin municipalities already have stormwater utilities. Among those, the fee for a single-family home ranges from a low of $15 a year in the village of Pleasant Prairie to a high of $109 a year in the city of Appleton, with an average of around $50 a year.

The committee recommended Strand after seeing a presentation by it and by MSA Professional Services. Committee members Dodd, Doug Klapper and Michael Oszman were present and unanimously supported Strand's bid, saying they were impressed with the group's professionalism.

Strand's recent stormwater utility projects in Wisconsin include work in Janesville, Prairie du Sac, Whitewater and Lancaster.

If council approves Strand as the consultant, among the first actions will be to hold a task force meeting to help explain the need and the process to the public. Three such meetings would be held in the project's opening months. Putting the education aspect of the plan near the beginning of the process was something the committee members were glad to see.

"I think the upfront education is what we need," Oszman said.