Aspen, Co to Tax Homeowners, Land Development for Phase II funding
Ξ August 29th, 2007 | → | ∇ Colorado, Taxes, Pollution News, Phase II, MS4 |
A proposed property tax is being put on the ballot in Aspen, Colorado in order to pay for the cities stormwater management plan.
The dedicated property tax would be used to fund the annual costs of the program, plus all of the capital investments. City officials estimate that the property tax would generate about $12 million over the next 15 years. The tax would be equal to a single-family homeowner paying an estimated $13.24 a month; an owner of affordable housing paying $0.62 a month and a large commercial property owner paying $606.70 a month, according to a memo written by Aragon………
A development fee also is proposed, which would be assessed against all properties at the time of building the system. The fee would be $2.88 per square foot of the proposed impervious area. Proceeds from that fee would be used to pay for improvements to the storm sewer collection system.
This route is the way that many municipalities are beginning to go in order to fund their Phase II stormwater requirements. I am somewhat surprised that Aspen decided to levy the development tax on top of the property tax. Does this mean that Aspen is going to provide the controls and maintain compliance for new developments? Somehow I doubt it.
A 2,500 square foot impervious footprint on a new home would now cost $8,000 more. I wonder if this is going to lead to a lot of ‘green’ roofs. If I was a developer, it seems it would almost be cost effective to put in rooftop gardens etc.
I wonder why the city didn’t choose to place the tax instead on sales tax. Aspen usually draws a significant number of tourists each year, so in effect the city is taxing relatively few for the stormwater pollution of many.
-Stormwater Guru
Aspen Colorado MS4 Phase II Pollution News stormwater taxes
