By : Dewey R . Wotring
May 1, 2008
Stormwater tax coming soon . Just what will that mean for the residents of Oldham County ? For certain it will mean higher taxes . Will it mean cleaner streams , responses from officials to residents ' complaints about drainage problems and bigger government ?
First , as of the last meeting of the Stormwater A dvisory Committee ( SW A C ) the plan was to tax each household in the county $6.81 per month . Overall private households would pay 82% of the cost of the stormwater expenses with businesses paying 18%. Is it necessary to set tax rates at this level ? That is certainly debatable .
The additional taxes will not provide for any additional services . For example , don ' t expect to complain about a drainage problem and get any action on your complaint as a result of the new taxes . A ccording to the SW A C the additional taxes are only for the purpose of meeting the mandates of the Federal Evironmental Protection A gency ( EP A).
The SW A C has stated that at least two new positions are needed - an engineer and an inspector . It seems to me that the majority of the duties of the inspector would be for the purpose of checking construction sites , i . e .., new developments for compliance of the EP A regulations . However , as usual the developers get a free ride . Since developers do most of the construction in Oldham County it would only seem fair that they pay some type of " impact fee " in order to help support the impact of the new stormwater impact on the county . However , that will never happen under the current administration .
Stay tuned for more on this new opportunity for the county government to put their hands on your wallet .