Floyd County, Indiana, Debates Storm Water Fees
Floyd County, Indiana, Commissioners are debating storm water fees for county users by the end of the year.
According to the News and Tribune, commissioners and Floyd County Surveyor John G. Brinkworth will be meeting to discuss how to make storm water fees fair for everyone without losing a significant amount of revenue.
The commissioners will consider an affidavit at the meeting that will allow for agricultural landowners to attest to being active farmers, which means that they would pay the same flat rate as residential owners at $39 annually.
Agricultural owners, particularly farmers, are required to pay more in storm water fees than residential owners due to the impervious surfaces on their properties. Industrial and commercial landowners are also responsible for paying extra fees, reported News and Tribune.
The affidavit would not require documentation, and previously in order for farmers to be able to pay lower storm water rates, they would be required to present different items including farm IDs.
Agricultural landowners that are not farmers would still be paying the extra fees for the amount of impervious surfaces, including roads, parking lots and building structures.
There are concerns that it will be unclear how they will be able to determine who should be considered an active farmer.
The USDA does not classify all products as being of an active farm.
Commissioner Tim Kamer has proposed setting a flat fee for all agricultural and residential land owners, but this would result in significant loss in revenue.
Any ordinances making changes to storm water fees must be finalized by the commissioners.