Storm Water Notices hitting mailboxes
The 2010 Storm Water Notices are arriving in the mail. As the notice says, “THIS IS NOT A BILL”, merely notice of what your will be when the bill comes due (which was in October in 2009).
The 2010 Storm Water Notices are arriving in the mail. As the notice says, “THIS IS NOT A BILL”, merely notice of what your will be when the bill comes due (which was in October in 2009).
How can citizens be charged additional taxes that were not voted for? Isn’t this like “taxation w/o represetation? What if a property has rain barrels and little run-off on a property? Should those have the same tax as properties with run-off?
@ Cynthia. I feel the same way but according to the City of Richmond, this is considered to be a fee and not a tax because they are performing a service similar to water, trash removal, etc.
I was curious and found a FAQ website provided by the city.
http://www.richmondgov.com/dpu/StormwaterFAQ.aspx
From what I’ve been told, the fee isn’t terribly high.
Good morning. A couple of points. The stormwater management fee was voted on by city council, when it approved Mayor Jones’ budget last year and again this year. The stormwater utility was widely discussed around the city for about four years before being presented to council. Until July 1st, state law did not permit the city to give credits for residential property owners who did things like rain barrels. This year the General Assembly amended the City Charter to permit Richmond to give those credits, and the Department of Public Utilities is working on those regulations now. Similar fees are under consideration in Henrico, as all localities struggle with new pollution control regulations.
Mark’s link contains the fee schedule.
I am happy to see these new pollution control regulations -they will save $ and create better development, not to mention a healthier environment.
Someone tell the Governor to get with teh program.
Only slightly off-topic-
I would love to know more about Richmond’s plans for upgrading its sewage treatment system.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/20x-more-energy-from-sewage-by-adding-gold.php
@Mark. Thanks for sharing the link.
I attended one of the City’s meetings on this topic. I wrote a summary of the meeting for those who did not attend. You can find the summary here:
http://greaterfultonnews.org/2010/06/30/clarifying-richmond%E2%80%99s-stormwater-utility/