On Apr 15, 2005, at 3:01 PM, Dorothy Titus wrote:
The stormwater rate is multipled by the number of ESUs (estimated stormwater
units) that the property has been assigned. So it most definitely IS
possible to have a $37 bump up in fees.
Dorothy's woes are a screw-up in administering the policy, not the policy itself. See:
http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/stormwater/what-we-do/ SewerStormwaterRateResolution.pdf
The city bases its stormwater rate on an $8.72 ESU (it stands for Equivalent Stormwater Unit, by the way).
The city gets its three new rates by multiplying the ESU.
The low rate is three-quarters of an ESU: 8.72 x . 75 = $6.54 a month The basic rate is one ESU = $8.72 a month The high rate is 1.25 ESUs: 8.72 x 1.25 = $10.90 a month
That's as high as the law says it can go for single-family homes.
I should also mention that the thrust of my editorial (which won't be online until Monday) is the same as Nick's - the fee is too regressive. My suggestion is to create a higher rate — it's abysmal that the biggest single-family home with the most hard surface in the city would pay only 60 percent more than the smallest home with the least hard surface.
I don't have a problem, though, with charging properties with lots of hard surface more for the stormwater sewer upkeep than they've previously paid.
Minneapolis is supposedly a progressive city and needs to make this fee more progressive.
I'm at the top rate, by the way, and should be.
Good luck with the appeal.
David Brauer Kingfield
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