Tampa Storm Water Fee Backlog Totals $870,000

Tampa officials have charged city property owners a storm water fee to fund flood-prevention projects since 2003. Dozens of government agencies with offices in Tampa, however, have ignored their city storm water bills for the past four years.

Outstanding storm water fee payments total more than $870,000, and the Hillsbourough County School Board owes $505,000 of that amount. City officials are currently considering options for collecting the unpaid fees.

Tampa's storm water fee is based on the amount of impermeable surface on a property. A typical charge for a homeowner is $36 a year, but commercial property owners and people who own many buildings pay much more.

The University of South Florida (USF) owes Tampa $160,000, and a representative said the school plans to pay the city. "We are trying to identify the source of the funds to pay the bill," says USF associate general counsel Hank Lavandera, adding that the total cost will be divided among independent entities on campus that use the city's storm water system (i.e. the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center).

Other agencies on the unpaid list, however, maintain that as government agencies they are exempt from payment of special assessments to other governments. "That's the way we see it," said Jerome Ryans, chief executive officer for the Tampa Housing Authority, which, according to city records, owes approximately $55,000. Ryans said the authority's attorney is looking into the matter.

Hillsborough County School Board spokesman Steve Hegarty said the group told the city it believed itself execmpt from the fee when it was first created. "We've been operating under that assumption," he said. "It sounds like other government agencies have been of the same opinion."

City Attorney David Smith said all Tampa property owners must pay the storm water fee because it is not a special assessment but a user fee. "They would have to pay it unless they can show us a statutory exemption, which to this date no one has done," he said.

Source: St. Petersburg Times