The following text may have been generated by Optical Character Recognition, with varying degrees of accuracy. Reader beware!

1 , ' ’ ”*‘â€"â€"â€"fâ€"â€"â€"â€"â€"- 1 ‘ wmmmm-mmmunn-s ; A t . . S orm lS coming 1 C‘ 11 ha b'lls ' 1 tly ratepayers wt see stormwater c rges on Ianuary water 1 11 BYGru-no MACDONALD . N1 . flat rate system is unfair to 11 ChronicleStafi' 1 a 3.5 propertykowners who have 1 - 0 ~" 1 t ‘ ‘ if; largenamralyardssaidlam f ity ratepayers will see i 2» ‘» Charters, who lives in Water- 1 the first stormwater . 't loo'snorth end. 11 management fee charge . ' $2 “The way the process is 1 on their lanuary water bills 1 11.8 being implemented now. the J The controversial fee was _ 23.3 . homeowners with the organic J approved by council last year. ‘ ". yards that reduce water runoff l \ . It aims to cover the costs of i 11; are subsidizing some of these 4 1 maintaining the city's » ' . 1 i 7 residential parking lots.” Char- l stomwater management sys- " . 1 . ters said in an e-mail. ‘ tem. a series of pipes, creeks 1 a ‘ x, 1 _ Charters wonders how the l and ditches that move rain and 3 L5 » _ 3; S! -. city can know how much of his ‘1 snow mnofl'towards the Grand "11 ' -_ a ~~ a ' 1; “a; ' property is an “impervious 1 River. ": W." ‘ ’ ' - surface" without doing an 3 1 The costs associated with assessment. 1 \ stormwater management are “Nobody has ever looked at 1 l estimated at $2.4 million per ’ ' my property since I moved 1 year, and that doesn't include r ‘ 1 - it here in '84." he said. “They’re J l any upgrades to the system. . i - 1 3 f’ " " going by guess and by golly." l The city is moving the cost 1 ' _, , , Permeability is key to ‘ 1 1 ,of the system from the tax base '/ 1 » z ‘ stomiwater management Part l to the water bill. instead of _ . ~ 1 .,:- ., . . ofthe reason fortheneed fora 1 - paying for stormwater man< _ ‘1 32 .-.,a ’ management system is , agement through property f _ ~ 0”- because of buildings and l 1 taxes, residents will be billed f 1. 1 3‘ paved surfaces, the water 1 through their water rates. I :' -‘ runoff is not absorbed into the i As the rates move to the . 1 \ " , ground as it would be in other l water bill. taxpayers will see an - a J I ‘ ‘ ~~. , areas. 1 equal reduction on their tax _ ,- ‘2 ‘ ." Charters worries that he's 1 bill. / i t 1 carrying an unfair burden of 1 Stormwater rates are based . l ' .~ ' ‘ stormwater costs. 1 on which category a property 1“ f 1 1’ 1; - “I’ve seen people in the city 1 falls into. 1 * :'_ ff- \ " who pave their backyards or 1 There are four main cateâ€" j 1 " a ' 1 3 have big driveways and park in gories: residential. multiâ€"unit F , ,’ ' \ front of their houses.” he residential (such as apartment ‘ . " \ , . said. buildings), institutional / l ‘ \ . Those propertieshave more ( including churches) and comâ€" I . h ‘ _ -. impermeable surfaces, but will mercial or industrial. Zr , '" pay the same rates. Under the residential cate- _ , _ 1 1 “This program just seems to gory, there are three sub-cate- , x be a tax increase with a politi- 1 gories: small (under 405 square , ‘ cal spin so our property taxes J metres). medium HOG-1,112 ‘ ’,. don't look to (be) increasing," 1 square metres) and large (more ’ ' ' " ' Charters said. 1 than 1.112 square metres. Stormwater runoff costs the City of Waterloo more than $2 million The city has done its home- 1 In the first month. small- annually. A new fee aims to cover that cost. m "m0 work and found the most equi- 1 property owners will see a 75- table solution without having cent charge, medium-sized size was the most cost-effec- efficient program without hav- to spend a lot, McGoldrick 1 property water bills will be tive way of implementing the ing to add staff.” McGoldrick said. ' show a $1.“ charge and large rates. said Denise McGoldrick. said. “We use common engineer ' property owners will see an director of water services for But one Waterloo resident ing practices to estimate how 1 additional $2.45 on the bill. the city. isn't happy with the way rates much of the property is imper- l Basing the rates on property “We wanted to do the most have been determined. The vious.” she said. 1 1 , ‘ l v c l 1} 1 . . ' J ' 1 The Gift You Can EnjoyTogether 1 . FIDDET-SZDE 31) 2113775. ‘ 1 ARLY'ffiTHE Pllflp'r' PIJPTY'JIT-‘(l Hf ‘ El“ ' P if if“ f 1 3h" Q _ r'17'-'..T"7‘f'_ 7 7 ~ ~ ; /.DeP13.P.E.i~~ .. l 111.1 GINAS 1 1 tor-wt mow-nut m 1 GlNA‘S 15 TH: mars/17 9 mm manning .. ' x. "mm“ "mm“ 1 1 this 1: 519.106.2090 l mun.“- ‘ 1 ..' ., i . 5.45122; _'. 1 J A ,_4___â€"â€"â€"â€"â€"-_â€"â€"._â€"â€"_-â€"-â€"â€"â€"-_nâ€"l