I think Steve is on to something here, but wait, it gets weirder. I was one of the lucky households, I guess, in that my total bill went down about $3.00 -- just like the SW Journal table said it would :o)
However went I went to the City's web page to pay my bill-online, (which is a cool thing and I've been doing it for years). I got a message that they amount the City was going to charge me online didn't include the stormwater fee and that I should call the City's water billing office to find out why. As my on-line bill was about $7.00 less than my mailed bill. So is the City re-thinking it's stormwater fee in general or is my fee being reevaluated? I'll report next month to find out how its reflected. If you want to check your water bill on-line, here's the link: http://www.ci.minneapolis.mn.us/utility-billing/pay-online.asp Dean E. Carlson East Harriet, Ward 10 ----- Original Message ----- From: Steve Cross <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Date: Friday, April 15, 2005 3:50 pm Subject: [Mpls] Stormwatergate > I read the posts on "A little media disagreement" and conclude that the > problem is not so much a difference between analysis by different media but > that the whole storm water fee was an idea that wasn't completely thought > through before it was put into place. > > The fact is that nobody can seem to get much information on how it was done. > I'm not sure that anyone (other than parking-lot owners) would oppose the > idea of collecting something from people who cause substantial runoff costs > but pay absolutely nothing for the cost they let others pay. As David says, > there may be a difference between the stormwater fees charged for duplex > properties and single properties. And, that distinction may explain the > difference in David Brauer and Nick Coleman's statements on the issue. > However, neither seems to have picked up on the fact that whether a property > has a duplex sitting on it or a single-family home sitting on it has > absolutely NOTHING to do with the amount of stormwater runoff on the > property. A "duplex" and a "single-family home" may be exacly the same size > -- as is evident > from the number of single-family units that have been converted into > duplexes. The fact that there are two living units may add to the sanitary > sewer but does NOT affect the runoff of rain. If so, why is > there a > difference in the charge for stormwater between the two types of property? > > Off the list, I had a conversation with David about the "model" that was used > by the city to calculate the stormwater fees. As I recall, David said that > the city's model may not allowed for changing the assumption that people > getting billed $0 for water now would now still be charged something for > stormwater. And my response was that if the city's "model" didn't allow for > doing that, then it was a very defective > model. I'm beginning to suspect that it's even worse than David said. > There may be NO "model" available to the city to use to calculate the > stormwater fees. Rather, they just guessed and put something in place with > the intention of refining the charges based on the information of several > months (or years) of use. I suspect that whoever's guess it was as to what > charges should be imposed and how different properties were to be > differentiated was wildly off. > > And, if my guess is right, the downside is that if the error of someone's > guess in stormwater rate structure may kill the whole idea -- and the basic > idea was good it's just that the execution may have been wildly off. I'd > suggest that if the city doesn't have any real model that they had better cut > all of the rates fast or they aren't ever going to have stormwater charges in > place long enough to be able to > gather enough information to make the charges really match each property. > > Steve Cross > Prospect Park REMINDERS: 1. Be civil! Please read the NEW RULES at http://www.e-democracy.org/rules. If you think a member is in violation, contact the list manager at [EMAIL PROTECTED] before continuing it on the list. 2. Don't feed the troll! Ignore obvious flame-bait. For state and national discussions see: http://e-democracy.org/discuss.html For external forums, see: http://e-democracy.org/mninteract ________________________________ Minneapolis Issues Forum - A Civil City-focused Civic Discussion - Mn E-Democracy Post messages to: mailto:[email protected] Subscribe, Un-subscribe, etc. at: http://e-democracy.org/mpls
