HeyBub wrote:
Six weeks ago I got a letter from the city informing me of a new
"drainage fee" and assessing me $190/year for the "impermeable"
surface on my property.
Their thinking went, presumably, that this impermeable surface meant
rainfall ran off to the street where is was processed by the
storm-sewer system. This new fee is meant to add funds to the
storm-sewer creation and maintenance function of the city's
government.
There are exceptions: One of which is if the property is served by an
open drainage ditch.
So, I go to the city's site for registering a protest. Ah ha, there
is an aerial view (Google Earth) of my property overlaid by some bit
of software that drew little rectangles over the "impermeable" areas
(driveway, sidewalks, out-buildings, dog just standing in the yard,
etc.). This bit of software evidently adds up the area comprising all
the rectangles to achieve a total square footage and assesses a fee
of three cents per square-foot per year.
Well, **** this nonsense. I protested the assessment allowing as how
my property is served by a drainage ditch to the rear that easily
handles half of the rainfall. (Man, the ditch is twenty feet deep and
fifty feet wide - it's more like a canal than a ditch.) I further
opined that, since it hasn't rained here since January, it seems a
little disingenuous to be imposing a DRAINAGE fee.
Anyway, the city just sent me an email saying my reasoning is flawed,
the original assessment stands, and I smell funny.
I'm gonna appeal.
Anyway, heads up. This silliness will spread, you mark my words, to
your town, too. Start thinking about camouflage paint for your garage
and outbuildings' roofs.
be glad you're not in colorado where where it's illegal to collect
rainwater.
http://articles.latimes.com/2009/mar...ed-rainwater18
if you put out buckets to collect the rainwater, you can get the buckets tax
free:
http://www.catchtherain.com/Resource..._sales_tax.php. i
would guess that the square footage of the buckets would count against your
hardscape area. perhaps you need to collect ALL the rainwater that falls on
your property?