>From "In The Ballot Box", reference to Kevin McDonald in Ward 12 and his reaction on the new City's stormwater fee: "And he¹s bothered that the city rushed into implementing the new system at a time when the governor and the legislature were putting together an annual $80 million Clean Water Legacy fund to help municipalities clean up impaired bodies of water. Not only could Minneapolis be eligible for these funds, but once the bill is passed, city taxpayers are going to have to pay another $3 a month to fund iton top of the current stormwater rates. ³We can¹t make these major policy decisions in a vacuum,² McDonald said. ³It makes it harder down the road for other environmental initiatives.²
Me: Whoa! The City had already been funding their stormwater management activities with a fee that had been combined with normal water fees on everybody's monthly bills. They separated it out to bring more visibility to the work they were doing on this issue and also to provide an incentive to those who actively worked to retain stormwater on their properties through the use of rain gardens and other means by reducing the fee. The Clean Water Legacy Bill, while everyone agrees with the policy basis that the state should be more proactive with cleaning up our waters, created great disagreement on how to pay for it. The original proposal required that city folk who were connected to a sewer system pay $36 per year and septic tank folk to pay $150/year towards this $80 million annual cost which is based on....? Agricultural operations were to pay zero even though their pollution contribution is the greatest cause for concern for our water quality in Minnesota. Yet, they would be the benefactors. In a nutshell, the bill died but city folk would have had to donate the majority of the funding which, after reduction for administrative expenses for the MPCA, would have been reallocated to projects mostly in out-state Minnesota. The project recommendations would have been made by a slate of people significantly dominated by agricultural, governmental, and industrial representatives. I don't believe for a minute that the City of Minneapolis would have received back from this program a fraction of what the residents would have paid into it. I much prefer that we all pay into a city-wide program with appropriate incentives that reduce the costs to the city over all. CM Sandy Colvin Roy was absolutely correct in creating and supporting the City's stormwater fee. Although it still needs some tinkering, this was the right way to go. Karen Harder Lynnhurst 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
