Richmond Mayor L. Douglas Wilder strikes me as a loose cannon in many ways, but he is pushing an idea for funding stormwater drainage and water quality clean-up that has real merit. As Michael Martz writes in the Times-Dispatch, the Wild One wants to impose an annual fee on homeowners, businesses and even not-for-profit institutions that varies according to the amount of stormwater run-off they generate from roofs and pavement. This idea, if approved by City Council, could provide a template for dealing with storm water run-off across the state.
The fees would generate about $15 million a year, enough to fund an estimated $100 million in storm water improvements over the next 16 years — mostly ditches, ditch maintenance, catch basins and enforcement of water-quality regulations.
The fee will, of course, be highly unpopular. Homeowners in the city are reeling from soaring personal property taxes, among the highest water and sewer rates in the country, and a meals & lodging tax enacted for the purpose of funding a performing arts center that never got built. I am not defending the city’s overall tax level. I am merely saying that, once you’ve made the decision to pay for storm water improvements, this is the most logical way to do it.
Wilder’s proposal offers a logical nexus between who pays, how much they pay and what they’re paying for. The more run-off property owners generate, the more they would pay. The fee would apply not only to homeowners and businesses — it would apply, as it should, to not-for-profit institutions like churches and Virginia Commonwealth University, which are exempt from property taxes. Additionally, property owners would be able to cut their annual fees by up to 50 percent if they reduced the quantity of runoff or improve its quality.
Council President William Pantele expressed concern that the proposal was submitted so far into the budget-formulation process. But, he conceded, “It’s the right thing to do.” The proposal is designed to enable Richmond to comply with state regulations, scheduled to take effect in 2009, governing run-off into the James River and its tributaries.
Now, if we can just apply the same logic to development in Virginia’s fast-growth counties, with their endless roads and sprawling parking lots and nitrogen-laden lawns.
Update: Bart Hinkle, the Times-Dispatch columnist, questions whether it’s reasonable to hit Richmond homeowners with another tax burden.