Funding the Tree Plan
The first step to determine how to fund the implementation of this plan involves the identification of needs. This can be defined based on the work involved in the 12 Action Steps. After this is assessed, funds currently used to manage and improve the urban forest should be examined (what is being spent and where), and finally, new sources of revenue can be considered.
Identification of Needs. Overall, there are two categories of needed funding to consider: long-term operation funds and shorter term project-based funds.
Identification of Needs. Overall, there are two categories of needed funding to consider: long-term operation funds and shorter term project-based funds.
- Long Term Funds are critical to ensuring a sustainable urban forest in the long run. Long term funds within the city will allow the public urban forestry program to evolve from a reactive to proactive care program. This will help the program work to address the projected losses in canopy in the coming years. Long term funds are also critical for the operation of TreesCharlotte and other partners to implement many of the tasks outlined in this plan, especially to engage the public.
- Short-Term Funds are project-based and typically include grants, gifts, sponsorship, and capital improvement projects. TreesCharlotte has already made significant headway in this arena, though there is more opportunity within the Action Steps of this plan.
Current Funding for Charlotte's Urban Forest. In simple terms, there are a number of sources that currently fund tree care and planting in Charlotte, listed below. This spending should be analyzed along side the current needs to evaluate if current funds are being spent in the most efficient manner possible.
- City Budget. The city's budget for care and planting of public trees currently comes from the city's general fund and is used for pruning, removal, service calls, storm response, plant health care, cankerworm banding, tree planting, and more. Whether this funding is adequate depends on the amount of work required annually to implement the city's management plan.
- Grants and Sponsors. TreesCharlotte is the primary source for obtaining grants and corporate sponsorship, both for ongoing operations and on short term projects as well. Funds are being raised currently for an endowment that will fund ongoing organization costs through its proceeds.
- Additional plantings in Conjunction with Other Projects. There is a substantial amount of planting that happens during both private development projects (based on tree planting requirements in the development code) and capital improvement projects (sidewalks, roads, transit development and more).
New Sources to Consider. New sources of funding should be explored. Potential options include:
- Taxes. Many cities throughout the U.S. attain funding for urban forestry through special taxes. While new taxes are currently politically unpopular, earmarking a small percentage of existing taxes may be a source of revenue to consider. See examples below.
- Tree Work Permit and Development or Damage Related Fees. These common funding mechanisms can be used for urban forest management, to the extent permitted under state and local codes. Charlotte has this structure in place, though the level of fees can be revisited depending on the results of further study and analysis.
- Sale of Municipal Wood Products. If city policies allow public property to be sold, the wood waste from tree maintenance can be a source of funds. Rather than pay for removal and disposal, many cities sell excess wood products (firewood, hardwood timber, rough wood chip mulch, and compost) to the general public and commercial businesses. A new trend is to use the removal of a significant or historic public tree as a source of creative fundraising. The logs and usable wood are given to local craftsmen who create furniture, sculptures, and other collectibles from it. These are sold and proceeds are returned to the urban forestry program. Another new trend is to use tree removals due to invasive insects and disease as a source of quality lumber products.
- Grants/Sponsorships/Partnerships. It is important to consider applying for funds based on the services that trees provide, beyond just forestry sources to fund green space projects. For example, government and private grants are often available for air quality, water quality, and energy saving efforts. Use this plan to apply for funding through grants, corporate partnerships, partnering organizations, and social enterprise efforts. Additionally, present the financial needs to the Canopy Team to determine the interest of any of the team members in sponsoring or fundraising for specific tasks.
What are other cities doing?
Taxes
Stormwater Fees
Fees, Permits & Penalties for Removals
Grants
Wood Sales
- Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio have a frontage street tree assessment authorized by state and city codes that has been in effect for over 30 years. Cincinnati created and funded their urban forestry program in 1981 through the creation of an annual assessment. Every property owner annually pays $0.18 per front footage of property, averaging $7 a year for the average homeowner, and the assessment generates over $1 million annually for the program.
- St. Louis, Missouri implements a property transfer tax and a sales tax (1/2 cent) to pay for the city’s urban forestry program.
- Burlingame, California, has provided a portion of a gas tax ($100,000) to the urban forestry’s departmental budget in previous years.
Stormwater Fees
- In Milwaukee, Wisconsin, almost all tree canopy maintenance expenses including cyclical tree pruning, tree planting, and emerald ash borer mitigation activities are now funded by the city's sewer maintenance fee. This practice, first initiated in 2010, recognized the contribution of Milwaukee's urban tree canopy to storm water management while equitably distributing the costs across all property owners including those that are otherwise tax exempt. This funding system resulted from a $400,000 urban forestry funding cut in the Mayor's 2010 proposed budget. The Common Council wanted to restore those funds. Because they recognized that trees help to mitigate stormwater, the Council voted to fund $5M in tree maintenance activities in that year through a transfer payment from the Sewer Maintenance Fee (Sivyer 2015).
Fees, Permits & Penalties for Removals
- Atlanta, Georgia assesses penalties for tree damage and removal with steep fines for violations. The first violation is a minimum of $500; the second violation is $1,000. If the violation cannot be tied to an exact number of trees (for example in a natural area), fines are set at $60,000.00 per acre of land affected (Atlanta 2015).
- Raleigh, North Carolina requires a $100 tree impact permit for any work done in the right-of-way where trees are located. Activities that require this permit include heavy equipment use or storage of soil, stone, or mulch in the critical root zone. Raleigh reminds its citizens, “remember, you can greatly reduce costs by protecting a tree at the beginning of a project rather than paying up to thousands of dollars for removal and replacement at the end of a project when an impacted tree becomes hazardous” (Raleigh 2015).
- In Cincinnati, Ohio if a property owner or contractor significantly damages a public tree, they are charged the assessed landscape value of the tree (a 20” DBH maple, for instance, has a landscape value of over $2,000), the cost of its removal, and new replacement planting. These penalties make tree protection and preservation a priority for both the public and contractors. All revenue is deposited into a dedicated urban forestry fund (Gulick 2015).
Grants
- The City of Cleveland, Ohio since completing the Cleveland Tree Plan in 2015, has applied and received funds for multiple long-term projects. Their Cleveland Urban Forest Coalition, made up of the stakeholders that participated in the plan, is working to implement the plan and cites the success behind their fundraising is directly attached to the existence of the recent tree plan, and the partners and clear strategic next steps spelled out within that plan.
Wood Sales
- The cities of Winnipeg, Manitoba, and Cincinnati, Ohio have codes in place to allow sales of wood that have succumbed to Dutch elm disease and EAB to local companies that mill dimensional lumber as environmentally sustainable products used in buildings and projects that qualify for LEED certification. Cincinnati’s ReLeaf reforestation program receives a portion of the sale of felled logs sold as flooring, tabletops, and dimensioned lumber. The program is run by Cincinnati Parks with the goal of replenishing the urban forest with new trees as old or diseased trees are removed (Algin 2015).