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HeyBub[_3_]

wrote:

Cities get very clever about raising money. My city recently imposed
a fee on the amount of non-porous property we have. That is, house,
driveway, garage, and the like. It's supposedly dedicated to
drainage improvements. In my case, the fee is included on the water
bill and is substantially larger than the water and sewage charges
combined.

You in Waterloo Region too?

Er, no. I'm in Houston. The city used Google Earth maps and some clever
software to calculate the amount of non-porous property at my home.

They offered exemptions for certain conditions. One was a ditch. If you were
served by a drainage ditch instead of storm sewers, you got exempted. In my
case there is a drainage ditch - more like a canal - behind my house. I
protested the original computation, claiming 1/2 of the property drainage
for my land went to the ditch, not the street storm sewer.

Denied.