Cobb citizens spoke out on Tuesday against a proposed stormwater fee they said unfairly burdens homeowners and is being rushed with limited time for public input.
During a public hearing following presentation of proposed code amendments, a number of East Cobb residents turned out to oppose a proposed fee based on impervious surfaces, generally ranging from $2 to $12 for residential customers, and typically more for commercial customers.
Some called the charge, added to their water and sewer bill and that would go into effect in August, a “rain tax,” although proponents of the measure have been calling it a fee.
The fee has been suggested since damaging floods in 2021 that affected many homeowners in East Cobb, some of whom were saddled paying for expensive repairs.
Cobb Water and Sewer pays for stormwater maintenance to the tune of $8 million a year, but says it lacks staffing and resources to handle demands on an aging and growing stormwater system.
“The county is going forward with this burdensome rain tax without committing these future funds properly,” East Cobb resident Jan Barton said during the public hearing. “We have an aging infrastructure that the county is requiring homeowners to remedy.
‘”This is wrong on so many levels.”
One of the code amendments would transfer responsibility for maintaining retention ponds in new subdivisions to that development’s homeowners association, and away from the county.
Richard Grome of the East Cobb Civic Association said that some homeowners will be paying twice if they live in a subdivision where they already are paying for private stormwater measures.
He said the proposed solution to stormwater upkeep seems “rather dictatorial and heavy-handed in its language” and asked that some of the code amendments be held for further study.
That was a sentiment echoed by others.
“I think you’re rushing through this very, very fast,” Marietta resident Don Barth said. “The little time we have to get involved is not enough.”
Hill Wright of East Cobb, who organized citizens over the flood damage in 2021, spoke at the hearing. He also sent out a release later saying that “while Cobb County is collecting its rain tax from residents, Cobb County will mandate homeowner associations collect money from the same homeowners to maintain the stormwater infrastructure in their neighborhood. Not Fair.”
Cobb Commission Chairwoman Lisa Cupid said during the hearing that citizens are already being charged for stormwater expenses through their water bills, “based on how much you drink, instead of how much your property may be contributing to stormwater.”
She said the new fee would be a “more equitable way to charge.”
Cobb Commissioner JoAnn Birrell will holding a town hall on the stormwater issue Thursday from 6-7:30 p.m. at the Tim D. Lee Senior Center (3332 Sandy Plains Road).
She and commissioner Keli Gambrill have said they oppose a new fee, calling it a tax, and Birrell objects to new charges as long as the water department transfers some of its revenues (around 6 percent) to the county’s general fund.
Commissioners will hold another public hearing and a vote on the code amendments March 26.
Related:
- Public hearings, vote, scheduled for Cobb stormwater fee proposal
- Cobb seeks grants to preserve African-American cemeteries
- Cobb commissioners set 2024 referendum for transit sales tax
- East Cobb transit center, bus routes on Cobb Mobility SPLOST project list
- Cobb to distribute $4.5M in ARPA funds to child care centers
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It’s a tax, and taxes should be voted on.
The problem is money has been siphoned from the water fees for years into the “Cobb General fund”. Also this new rain fee will saddle MORE responsibility onto homeowners.
2 Homeowners spoke up, one spent 100K, another 24k on repairs that should not have been theirs.
The Gang of 3 will “listen” to the residents … and then vote how they were going to vote anyways.
It’s not a Red or Blue issue to want low taxes. We are Cobb County. We used to be low taxes, low traffic, good schools, lots of trees. Some people just see it as a ‘gem on hill’, ready to be STRIP-MINED. We don’t wanna be like Gwinnett (who used to be a low traffic/good schools/etc and then became the “fastest growing COUNTY in the US”).
The issue is that the funding is already there with current taxes. They are shifting money from that fund to the general fund shorting the money we have for repairs. Cupid wants to raise taxes on everything. She needs to go and is up for reelection.
How in the world does MAGA enter into this issue? One of the problems with issues like this is that our County Govt. doesn’t do a very good job of alerting the county residents to issues like this. Since this proposed “tax” is associated with Water Department issues, then the county could have alerted us on our latest water bill. It could have included a website that could be used to view the proposed tax and all of it’s provisions. We could then form an opinion without the influence of those who may misrepresent the provisions of the proposal. In lieu of information, people tend to make “stuff” up.
Mr Wright pushed for the problems be fixed but I believe he only did it for politics. Much false information has been spread online driving many to oppose this plan. What you are not being told is there is already a tax based on how much water you use. This plan will shift the cost to how much surface coverage you have. It’s certainly a better way to actually tax real drainage issues. But if your object is to elect MEGA maybe opposing this shift with misleading information works best on the uninformed.
We saw the same with false info on the trash tax by the same people. It’s MAGA.
This has nothing to do with MAGA which is ignorant. It has to do with the funding is already there but Cupid is shifting those funds to the general fund instead of using the money already collected and essentially double taxing. It is raising taxes for money she shifted elsewhere
Part of governing well and responsibly is developing sound proposals and considering them carefully. Rushing an ill considered proposal is not good government. Nothing is helped by pretending it’s a fee except to incinerate the credibly of its proponents on the council. This council has not done much to develop confidence from the taxpayer.
Part of being a property owner in any community is sharing the costs for new and maintaining infrastructure. Yes it sucks. Life isn’t fair. Runoff water needs to be handled correctly.