Mayor Steve Bach wants Colorado Springs Utilities, a billion-dollar-plus city enterprise, to cough up $12 million to $15 million next year to help pay for stormwater projects.

Bach is asking the City Council, which doubles as the Utilities Board, to find the money within the confines of the existing budget and rate base.

But Scott Hente, council president and board chairman, says Bach’s request would require a rate increase.

“I believe the only way to do that is to raise rates, and I’m not in the mood to do that right now,” Hente said Tuesday.

“In this year’s budget, we specifically deferred maintenance and some capital projects in 2012 simply to make the budget palatable to both the board of directors as well as the ratepayers,” he said.

“The money doesn’t just magically appear,” Hente added. “It comes from somebody, and it comes from you and me when we pay our utility bills.”

Hente said Utilities has already spent or committed $300 million for stormwater improvements.

“Now a lot of that is for protection of wastewater lines, but those are very important things to do as part of your stormwater protection,” he said.

“Let’s ignore that trivial little $300 million for a second,” he said sarcastically. “What would you cut? What would you get rid of to pay for this?”