“Rain Tax” reduction legislation to be introduced

New legislation to lower the stormwater remediation fee (the “Rain Tax”) will be introduced at the Baltimore County Council legislative session on Monday, February 2, then discussed at a work session on Tuesday, February 24, then voted on at the legislative session on Monday, March 2.

If passed, the fee for single-family homeowners will be $26.00, which is down from the current $39.00; Condominium fees will be $14.00 as opposed to the current $29.00;  Businesses would pay $46.00 per 2,000 square feet of impervious surface instead of the current $69.00 and non-profits would pay $14.00 per 2,000 square feet instead of the current $20.00. All in all, this new legislation will reduce fees 1/3 across the board. One change will see that mobile home owners pay a flat rate of $26.00 instead of the price given to them by the owners of the mobile home parks. Currently, the mobile home park owners are being charged at the commercial/business rate and they are passing that charge onto the residents. According to the East County Times, some mobile home residents are paying as much as $89.00. This legislation also eliminates the taxing of commercial pools since the water is already drains into a treated system.

County Executive Kevin Kamenetz claims this legislation is not a perfect solution to the problem, mentioning a 2025 compliance date. The federal Environmental Protection Agency mandated that Maryland fully enforce the 1972 Clean Water Act and the Maryland government agreed to comply with specific pollution reduction goals by 2025. The Maryland government then passed on the responsibility to the 10 largest jurisdictions in the state, and Baltimore County was one of those jurisdictions. In a statement, Kamenetz said, “I urge the incoming governor to negotiate an extension of the 2025 compliance date with the federal government in order to give local government some breathing room to achieve the required reduction in pollution levels. That would be an important step forward. Simply eliminating the mandate that we impose a fee does not solve the problem of the local counties who have been saddled with the clean-up responsibility as a result of the state ‘s entry of the federal consent decree.”

Many critics have called for a complete repeal of the state “Rain Tax” but Kamenetz says that would have nothing to do with the federal mandate. Del. Pat McDonough states they have eliminated it in Harford County (part of which he represents) and that work will be done this summer to reduce the entire amount and have the County Executive roll it into the budget. Del. McDonough also claims that Governor Hogan is planning on repealing the law.

A reduction is a step in the right direction but we can still work to get it eliminated altogether. We should talk with Harford County and surrounding counties to see what they did to eliminate the fee and see if we can apply it to our situation here in Baltimore County.

What do you think? Is the reduction of the “Rain Tax” good enough or would you like to see a complete repeal?