The dreaded "Storm Water Utility TAX" rears its ugly head and gets another day in court here in Wentzville. This rancid topic has been hanging around on a meat hook for four years and the subject of two Wentzvillian blogs this year: May 25, 2011 - Bend Over Wentzville Here Comes Another TAX!; and September 2, 2011 - Storm Water Utility "TAX" Revisited.
Mandated by the Federal Government's Clean Water Act, cities across the country are having to ensure water runoff quality. In an effort to assist in funding these new requirements states have made provisions which allows them to create a "utility fee" to pay for adhering to these new requirements. Historically, storm water has always been paid from the general fund and the general fund comes from taxes. This new fee would free up all of the tax money regularly scheduled for storm water to be used for whatever the city wants and citizens have no say. It must be kept in mind that this is a very unusual fee and when instituted by MSD in St. Louis it was challenged in court. The court ruled it a tax, not a fee, and MSD is appealing that decision—it's still ongoing.
Introduced by; then City Administrator Andy McCown, supported by Mayor Lambi and the Lurchettes, it made it through the first two readings when Lurch (Bill Schuette) got cold feet after hearing about the law suit. Rather than realize there was something inherently wrong with this fee (tax) it was tabled by this band of knuckleheads before the third reading to wait for the outcome of the law suit.
In the board meeting of October 12th, Alderman Cheryl Kross supported by Alderman Stokes petitioned the board to bring the storm water utility fee back on the table with the intention of voting it down. Seeing board consensus on this subject, our illustrious Chief Executive Officer (Lambi) jumped in giving all the usual excuses why the city desperately needs this and how it's a Federal mandate. He never once mentioned that the implementation of this tax was not a matter of the mandate, but only a right given to cities to impose it. Taxes are governed by a vote of the people and calling this a fee does not override the simple fact that it is a tax. Lambi flat out lied in the meeting stating; "The city has spent $400,000 in preparation for this fee." The original study was for $97,000 and they added another $20 or $30 large when the consultant was asked to do more analysis. The city spent an undetermined amount on preparing the ordinance and too many PowerPoint presentations trying to convince aldermen that it is necessary. Any money spent on coming into compliance would have been spent from the general fund anyway and has nothing to do with the ordinance. Anything spent over the items listed trying to get this ordinance made into law was counting chickens and Lambi should have known better than write checks his ass couldn't cash.
After more discussion and comments on the MSD case by City Attorney Paul Rost, the aldermen agreed to have another work session to hash it out. The tax ordinance will have to wait two more weeks before it's voted on. This waste of time concession to the mayor will be the same old PowerPoint presentations given by the staff to new aldermen who already know the facts. Between you and me, I think the board of aldermen merely want to show how the mayor lied or is hiding the fact that he spent more money on the come than he had the horse power to spend. I look forward to a very entertaining work session.
Introduced by; then City Administrator Andy McCown, supported by Mayor Lambi and the Lurchettes, it made it through the first two readings when Lurch (Bill Schuette) got cold feet after hearing about the law suit. Rather than realize there was something inherently wrong with this fee (tax) it was tabled by this band of knuckleheads before the third reading to wait for the outcome of the law suit.
In the board meeting of October 12th, Alderman Cheryl Kross supported by Alderman Stokes petitioned the board to bring the storm water utility fee back on the table with the intention of voting it down. Seeing board consensus on this subject, our illustrious Chief Executive Officer (Lambi) jumped in giving all the usual excuses why the city desperately needs this and how it's a Federal mandate. He never once mentioned that the implementation of this tax was not a matter of the mandate, but only a right given to cities to impose it. Taxes are governed by a vote of the people and calling this a fee does not override the simple fact that it is a tax. Lambi flat out lied in the meeting stating; "The city has spent $400,000 in preparation for this fee." The original study was for $97,000 and they added another $20 or $30 large when the consultant was asked to do more analysis. The city spent an undetermined amount on preparing the ordinance and too many PowerPoint presentations trying to convince aldermen that it is necessary. Any money spent on coming into compliance would have been spent from the general fund anyway and has nothing to do with the ordinance. Anything spent over the items listed trying to get this ordinance made into law was counting chickens and Lambi should have known better than write checks his ass couldn't cash.
After more discussion and comments on the MSD case by City Attorney Paul Rost, the aldermen agreed to have another work session to hash it out. The tax ordinance will have to wait two more weeks before it's voted on. This waste of time concession to the mayor will be the same old PowerPoint presentations given by the staff to new aldermen who already know the facts. Between you and me, I think the board of aldermen merely want to show how the mayor lied or is hiding the fact that he spent more money on the come than he had the horse power to spend. I look forward to a very entertaining work session.
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