On Oct. 30, 2015, Cross Plants & Produce, a small, family-owned farm in Kyle, was caught in the middle of one of the worst rain storms the area has ever seen.

The storm “wreaked havoc” on the farm the night before Halloween, owner Jennifer Cross said.

The heavy rainfall carried rocks and debris onto the business’s property, knocked down a fence, and flooded animal pens and the store. The water took out everything in its way, she said.

Nearly one year later, Cross said she estimates the flood has cost the business around $10,000.

“We’re still not completely back from [the flood], to be honest,” Cross said. “The money we take from the pumpkin patch helps pay for our Christmas trees. The flood really, really, really hurt our small business.”

The city of Kyle has since begun work on forming a stormwater and drainage utility to provide a mechanism to fund repairs from previous floods, improve infrastructure to prevent further damage, and address other issues, such as water pollution and erosion.

Harper Wilder, Kyle’s director of public works, said the city received 17 inches of rain during the October 2015 storm, which is about seven times more intense than a 100-year flood. A 100-year flood is any rain event that has a 1 percent chance of occurring in a given year.

“You just don’t engineer for 17 inches of rain—you can’t,” he said. “The cost would be so great that no city could afford it. It’s hard to take that flood and compare it to [everyday] drainage issues.”

After flooding in October 2013, city officials discussed creating a fund similar to the utility that has been proposed. The 2015 flood “really helped [creation of the utility] along,” Wilder said.

“With the staff we have right now, we don’t have the opportunity to do those things and the preventive maintenance that needs to be done,” Wilder said. “This provides that opportunity.”

Stormwater Management Plan Administrator Kathy Roecker said the proposed utility has to go before City Council in the form of an ordinance, which is scheduled to happen in November. The fiscal year 2016-17 budget allocates money for it in the event that the ordinance does receive council’s approval.

The budget allocates $1.08 million toward the utility, which would be funded through separate charges for Kyle residents and business owners. The proposed additional drainage charges would be identified separately on residents’ and businesses’ monthly bills. Under the initial proposal, residents would pay $5, and businesses would pay a rate based on their amount of impervious cover—surfaces such as pavement that do not allow water to seep into the ground.

According to the proposed formula, a big-box store supercenter on a lot size of 706,424 square feet with just over 75 percent impervious cover would pay $1,899.39 per month in flood risk-mitigation fees.

A smaller convenience store with nearly 55 percent impervious cover on a 54,112-square-foot lot would pay $83.56 per month in risk-mitigation fees.

In San Marcos, residents fund the city’s drainage utility through fees ranging from $5.72 -$10.48 per month based on the size of their lot. Commercial property owners pay $9.15 per 2,250 square feet of impervious cover each month.

A San Marcos business on a lot measuring 706,424 square feet with just over 75 percent impervious cover would pay about $2,187 per month in flood risk-mitigation fees.

The city of Buda does not currently have an ongoing funding source for drainage projects in the city, instead allocating money from the general fund and from bond referendums such as the 2014 voter-approved bond.

The first reading of Kyle’s ordinance will be Nov. 1, and the second reading is set for Nov. 15 when the council will take a final vote on the proposal.

If approved, the next step will be to create a drainage master plan, Roecker said.

“[The master plan] lets you put things in a pecking order and prioritize,” Wilder said.

Areas near Steeplechase Boulevard, Goforth Road, Twin Cove and Spring Branch Drive were some of the hardest-hit  in the city in October 2015. The master plan will lay out which areas the city will focus on first.

The utility will allow the city to focus more on stormwater drainage by hiring new staff. That staff member would not have to worry about being pulled away for other projects, Wilder said, making their work more effective.

“They’ll be able to handle a larger workload that just involves the drainage,” he said.

A public forum will be held Nov. 15 for Kyle residents to share their ideas and opinions about the proposal.

“I know a lot of people [in Kyle] are supporting it and think it’s a positive thing for the city,” Roecker said.

Cross said she wishes the city could manage the issue using existing resources.

“I kind of feel like our taxes are high enough,” Cross said. “We should be able to figure out a way with what we have and not raise our taxes any more.”