Additional funds needed to address Jefferson City storm water infrastructure issues

Jefferson City Public Works is playing catch up after multiple storms caused significant flooding in September and August, and more funds are needed to address the problem.

The heavy rains flooded at least 30 homes in the city and put several streets under water.

Flooding events highlight the issues with the city’s failing infrastructure, according to the public works director Matt Morasch.

Right now, a massive sinkhole sits in one resident’s yard off Jason Drive. It was just one of the issues caused, or made worse by the recent floods.

The issues are due to a combniation of two factors, according to Morasch.

First, neighborhood pipes were not designed for storms of such high intensity.

“When you have a 100-year event, if you’re in a neighborhood, those aren’t designed to handle those anyway,” Morasch said.

Second, the infrastructure is aging.

“Some of those pipes were built 50 plus years ago, 70 years ago,” Morasch said. “We have a lot of complaints on them so a lot of that is needing replaced at this time.”

About $360,000 a year from the half-cent sales tax goes toward storm water infrastructure needs.

But the department needs about $2 million a year to really address the issues, according to Morasch.

“You look at the bottom line is $360,000 a year, so you’re really not catching up and you’re really getting behind, further behind every year actually,” Morasch said.

One possible solution is to have residents vote on a storm water utility fee. Each household would have to pay about $3 to $5 a month to get the $2 million budget, according to Morasch.

Until then, projects may have to be put on hold.

“Our first goal is to go out, make things safe and then come back and fix things as we can,” Morasch said.

The public works departments keeps a list of all residents’ complaints on stormwater infrastructure issues. Before the recent flooding, all of the repairs would have cost about $15 million, according to Morasch.