I discovered recently that my friend Todd participated on the Storm Water Citizen Advisory Task Force (SCATF), comprised of 22 people selected from a cross section of residents, business people, and local activists. Over the course of eight months, the committee assembled a new rate plan and adjusted how property owners will be assessed for storm water services. Intrigued by this possible insight into the inner workings of City Hall, I quizzed my friend...Todd, why did the storm water assessment structure need to change?
There were legal concerns with the current system, and there were concerns with the system being equitable to the users.
(See City Press Release)
How did homeowners in Ann Arbor pay/deal with storm water before?
$20+ dollars a quarter on their water and sewer bill.
How will this change?
There are now 4 tiers for homeowners based on impervious area (pavement and buildings). You can visit the city website for details. There is also an education component so that users can understand what happens to storm water and they can also learn how to apply for credits.
(The aerial photo below right shows an image of a chunk of West Liberty, captured from the online assessment tool on the website. The red slashed areas are considered “impervious.” For instance 1005 West Liberty, in the center, is measured at 2,509 square feet of i
mpervious area. So that puts them in the tier of a $25.83 quarterly charge. If their impervious area were 2,186 or less, it would fall into the lowest tier at $17.46 per quarter. I spent a bit of time noodling with the online tool, and of the 7 or 8 houses I searched, only one property fell into this lower tier.)How will condo owners be assessed?
There is a separate commercial rate based on impervious area. The commercial rate was also modified based on impervious area.
Under the old system, how much did the City take in for storm water per year, and how much do they expect to take in with this new structure?
$3.5 million per year. I think the total is intended to be the same with the new structure, but expect that to grow in the future.
What, exactly, does the storm water budget fund?
* Public education (website, mailings, etc)
* System Planning (key to establishing where to make improvement and repairs)
* Operation and Maintenance of the system
* Capital Improvement Projects (repairs, replacements, new projects)
Who was the funniest person on the committee?
Not a lot of humor.
Did you ever have a situation where tempers flared a bit or that you thought was particularly foolish?
Not really, but we did need to implement some speaking rules early on to help keep us on track.
Did you get snacks?
Coffee, juice, water, muffins, etc.
As I suspected, not a lot of whimsy going on in city government. And lame snacks. These ARE hard times.
2 comments:
It is possible to appeal the impervious area assessment. When you're looking at the online image of your property, you can click on a link ("Click here for details") that leads to a page with information about how to appeal. I have just done so. You need to highlight incorrectly identified areas on the picture (they suggest printing, highlighting, and scanning -- I used "The Gimp" application instead.) Then you can mail or email your appeal.
I identified a gravel dog run (pervious), an area of lawn in shadow, and a tree surrounded by cocoa shells that had been incorrectly identified. It looks like that will bring me down into the lowest tier, saving me a few bucks over what I used to pay. Check out your own property and maybe you can save money, too.
That is stinky. A few years ago, when our neighborhood got annexed from P'field into Ann Arbor proper, the city had a nice little meeting for us. They provided a ton of food--and it was good.
Having the worst economy in the nation sucks.
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