Posted on 07/06/2009 6:45:47 AM PDT by angkor
Utilities: Smart Billing By Staff Reports Published: July 6, 2009 A little more than a year ago, the Wilder administration and the City Council backed off a proposed stormwater fee to underwrite infrastructure projects, many of which the council killed off for financial reasons. This year the council decided it could put matters off no longer, and adopted a budget that included a stormwater fee. City residents have received brochures. In a few weeks, they'll receive the bills, which typically will run in the neigbhorhood of $50 for the year. Businesses will have to shell out, too. Although we're not in the habit of cheering taxes and fees, this one makes sense. The fee is based on the amount of impervious surface per property, and the money collected will go to the upkeep of stormwater drop inlets, ditches, catch basins, and so on. That marks an improvement over the practice of paying for these projects out of the general fund, under which the amount paid bore no relation to the amount of runoff from a property. Like other localities, Richmond is under mandate to improve its stormwater system. The changes will help improve the health of the Chesapeake and forestall federal intervention in that regard. As the system matures, we'd like to see it incorporate incentives for owners who adopt measures -- rain barrels, rain gardens, grassy swales, and so forth -- that reduce runoff in environmentally friendly ways. Rewarding residents and businesses for taking such steps would make a smart system even smarter.
(Excerpt) Read more at timesdispatch.com ...
As for this bizarro rationale: "The fee is based on the amount of impervious surface per property, and the money collected will go to the upkeep of stormwater drop inlets, ditches, catch basins, and so on."
.... didn't we used to call that "upkeep" of storm drains and ditches, "taxes"?
Seems like Rat municipal governments are out to drop every possible civic responsibility they have in order to finance their jobs, and to then assess "user fees" (i.e., "more taxes") for tasks that should have been paid from the general fund in the first place.
Ridiculous.
Does the Richmond Times-Dispatch employ high school dropouts for its editorial page?
(This time with paragraphs, which the auto-excerpting removed from the first attempt above)
Utilities: Smart Billing
By Staff Reports
Published: July 6, 2009
A little more than a year ago, the Wilder administration and the City Council backed off a proposed stormwater fee to underwrite infrastructure projects, many of which the council killed off for financial reasons. This year the council decided it could put matters off no longer, and adopted a budget that included a stormwater fee.
City residents have received brochures. In a few weeks, they’ll receive the bills, which typically will run in the neigbhorhood of $50 for the year. Businesses will have to shell out, too.
Although we’re not in the habit of cheering taxes and fees, this one makes sense. The fee is based on the amount of impervious surface per property, and the money collected will go to the upkeep of stormwater drop inlets, ditches, catch basins, and so on. That marks an improvement over the practice of paying for these projects out of the general fund, under which the amount paid bore no relation to the amount of runoff from a property.
Like other localities, Richmond is under mandate to improve its stormwater system. The changes will help improve the health of the Chesapeake and forestall federal intervention in that regard. As the system matures, we’d like to see it incorporate incentives for owners who adopt measures — rain barrels, rain gardens, grassy swales, and so forth — that reduce runoff in environmentally friendly ways. Rewarding residents and businesses for taking such steps would make a smart system even smarter.
Every time you see the word “smart”, hold onto your wallet.
I was going to make the point that their promised reductions for "rain barrels, rain gardens, grassy swales, and so forth" will just happen to be too hard to administer and reducing the fee will cause the sewers to back up and drown children and kittens, so the fees will remain.
And a hat tip to the Tertium Quids blog and to Instpundit, which both raised the issue this morning:
http://tertiumquids.blogspot.com/2009/07/runoff-tax.html
Monday, July 6, 2009
The Runoff Tax
The Richmond Times-Dispatch cheers the city’s implementation of a new fee (what you call a tax) on rainwater runoff. The reasoning goes as follows:
The fee is based on the amount of impervious surface per property, and the money collected will go to the upkeep of stormwater drop inlets, ditches, catch basins, and so on.
All items that, in the past, were paid out of the general fund, where they had to compete with other demands (and wants) for dollars. Competition for scarce dollars demands choices be made based upon greatest need or largest return on investment. But not so here:
Richmond is under mandate to improve its stormwater system. The changes will help improve the health of the Chesapeake and forestall federal intervention in that regard. As the system matures, we’d like to see it incorporate incentives for owners who adopt measures — rain barrels, rain gardens, grassy swales, and so forth — that reduce runoff in environmentally friendly ways.
I can understand the rush toward behavioral economics and the use of incentives. Taxes do create incentives, good and bad. Plus, a behavioral approach has a special appeal for snoops and scolds who really, really dislike the way you conduct yourself.
In reality, this is but another pot of money flowing into the city’s coffer that may or may not be used as advertised. Time will tell on that point, but until then, at least some Richmond residents will learn to curse the taxable rain.
Posted by Norman Leahy at 8:32 AM
And a little description of Tertium Quids from the web site:
Tertium Quids is an independent, nonpartisan, issue advocacy organization that promotes legislative efforts to expand individual opportunity and free markets, while reducing the size, role, and cost of government in Virginia.
Through grassroots education and mobilization, as well as direct contact with local and state officeholders, Tertium Quids redefines the parameters of the public debate in favor of individual liberty, dynamic entrepreneurial capitalism, private property, the rule of law, and constitutionally limited government.
Tertium Quids, Latin for “third way” or “third entity,” is composed of activists across Virginia whose loyalty and commitment are to the founding principles of our republic, rather than to party politics.
“Every time you see the word “smart”, hold onto your wallet....”
If you’re an uneducated peasant...this appears stupid...IOW don’t we ALREADY pay taxes for municipalities to do these basic civic functions?!! Otherwise WHY do we pay Taxes to start with?
I’d wager the largest tracts of “impervious” surface are mall parking lots. So taxes go up on retail-oriented commercial properties, squeezing already weakened landlords.
This is pretty much the stupidest thing at the stupidest time. So it’ll probably pass.
Restoration of the Chesapeake Bay has not been a roaring success primarily because of run-off pollution aka non-point pollution.
fill 55 gal. drums with rainwater and leave them on the mayor’s porch??
??????
I think the state of Colorado just repealed a law which made it a “crime” to harvest storm water run-off and it probably won’t be long before they find a way to tax those of us who capture it:=(
Well, the libs want to tax the air (CO2) so it just makes sense they want to tax the rain.
“drop every possible civic responsibility they have in order to finance their jobs”
Eggs Ackley! Here in Summit County, Ohio, they reassessed property taxes. They lowered the value of my house by $1,500, but raised the value of my lot by $10,000, thus sticking me with higher taxes! They did this to everyone!
We have had a stormwater tax for quite a while.
It started at $15 per year, and now it is $80 a year and going up. In fact, it is now lumped in with our real estate tax bill instead of a separate bill coming once a year.
I guess they think the peons won’t notice the hikes coming fast and furious if it’s on the outrageously high property tax statement.
We don’t even have fire hydrants here in the swamp, much less sewers, running water, septic and street lights.
I guess I’m paying for the rain water running into the swamp.
“Smart” is today’s MySpace synonym for “dumb and proud of it.”
This is one of the more ridiculous and thickheaded editorials I’ve seen in any newspaper in a very long time.
Taxes on rainwater = “runoff fee.”
Right.
If you thought that your municipal taxes were supposed to pay for "extras" like sewers, police, fire department, and schools, then you are not of the MySpace generation at the Richmond Times-Dispatch, and you are not being "smart."
/sarc
Besides, Richmond is 10 miles from an estuary to the Atlantic Ocean... errrr... very bottommost couple miles of the Chesapeake Bay, thus the rainwater tax "stormwater fee" is both "smart" and "green."
/sarc again
Don't you feel better now?
I think the governments around the nation are gettin ready to how impervious they are not to the push back they going to get.
You want to tax rainwater, miles driven and the air I exhale?
Seriously, these people must have lived in a “Stupid Tree” all their lives and one day fell down, hitting every stupid branch along the way, before hitting the ground and having the day lights and good sense that God gave, knocked out of them.
I think I know what you mean, but they seem to be getting more brazen, not less.
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