surface & stormwater management performance audit final report

Surface & Storm Water Management Performance Audit
Kitsap County, Washington
Final Report
permit requirements. As noted earlier, the County’s SSWM Program is an award winning
program and has been recognized for its comprehensiveness. As discussed in Chapter II, the
Board of Commissioners may want to revisit its previous purposes and program elements.
If the Board of Commissioners wishes to reduce the level of SSWM Program-related
expenditures and it decides to approach this issue strictly from the perspective of compliance
with State and Federal regulations, there are two general options it could pursue.
• It could choose to reduce the level of activities undertaken within many of the Program
elements. This option pursues a strategy that would still ensure a “passing” grade (i.e., a
“D” or “D-” grade) as opposed to striving for a higher grade (i.e., an “A” or “B” grade).
Although there are a number of existing SSWM Program elements that are not required
by the NPDES Phase II Permit regulations, the SSWM Program is certainly doing more
in a number of areas than other stormwater programs. This is a direct result of past
decisions made by the Board and SSWM Program staff based upon the objectives that
have been established and the desire to “do the job well.” Efforts could be scaled back
and the Program could still meet the minimum requirements of the federal and state
regulations.
• The second option involves removing elements from the SSWM Program that typically
are not part of stormwater management programs and having them reside elsewhere.
These elements include the following:
- Agricultural property inventory
- Agricultural farm planning
- Agricultural BMP design
- Agricultural BMP installation
- Agricultural BMP inspection and maintenance
- Referral response
- On-site sewage system complaint response program
- Operation and maintenance program for on-site sewage systems
- Financial assistance program for on-site sewage system repairs
- Recreational shellfish program
- Wellhead protection program
- Marina sewage control program
- Watershed management
- Capital facilities planning
- Capital project construction
This strategy would not eliminate any of these Program elements since they are required
by Kitsap County Code, but rather, it would establish separate management and funding
mechanisms for these program elements. This strategy would not reduce the total
expenditures incurred by the County (in fact, it might lead to an increase in total
expenditures) but it would reduce the overall level of expenditures directly associated
with the SSWM Program. The primary result of this strategy would be to make the level
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