L.A. County should stop stormwater tax
EDITORIAL
The L.A. County Board of Supervisors will vote July 17 on whether to put a new property tax on the ballot to pay for capturing and cleaning up stormwater.
The proposed parcel tax would cost property owners 2.5 cents per square foot of “impermeable” surface. That’s a building, a driveway, a parking lot, a concrete patio and any other surface on the property that fails to allow rainwater to percolate into the ground.
To determine the tax liability of each property owner, the county has already used satellite imagery and sophisticated technology to examine each parcel and calculate the impermeable surface area.
The new tax would burden homeowners and also the owners of commercial property, including retail stores, office buildings, manufacturing facilities and apartment buildings. It will be one more thing that raises the cost of living.
Is it necessary?
We don’t think so.
The county estimates that the tax would raise $300 million per year for the L.A. County Flood Control District to distribute for stormwater capture and clean-up, as well as drought “education,” workforce training, and job assistance for the homeless.
Stormwater cleanup costs are driven by the Los Angeles Regional Water Board’s uniquely tough requirements for L.A. County’s MS4 (municipal separate storm sewer system) permit. It’s estimated that compliance will cost the county and the cities in it $20 billion over 20 years. By all accounts, this is utterly unaffordable. Before imposing a tax that barely begins to cover it, county officials should demand that the Water Board justify the singular demands on L.A. County.
Captured stormwater in L.A. County already provides enough water for 1 million households. The county says collecting every additional drop, if that was even possible, might provide water for another 2 million of the county’s 10 million residents. But at what cost?
Southern Californians are already paying for Metropolitan Water District’s plan to fund most of the Delta tunnels project. L.A. County residents and businesses should not be forced to pay higher water rates and higher taxes, too, especially if this new tax will only spread money around to begin a lot of projects that will require even higher taxes to complete.
The Board of Supervisors should rethink this proposal.
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