As debates continue over this widely hated tax, small business owners are hopeful it will be eliminated.
Brian Harvey, owner of Heating & Cooling Inc., testified in support of SB 588, which would repeal the rain tax, at a hearing in March. The tax currently costs him $1,305 per year—more than $100 per month.
“For what I pay annually for the rain tax, I could pay two of my monthly electric bills, I could pay the annual auto insurance premium on one of my company vehicles, I could pay my phone bill for two months, I could put it toward my copier that desperately needs replacing or my software that needs updating,” Harvey testified. “…being forced to pay the county another $100 [per] month means that other needs of my business will go unmet or delayed.”
For Harvey, the tax is even more excessive considering he has independently taken steps to reduce pollution. His property has a fully engineered stormwater management system that the county inspects annually and that Harvey pays to have cleaned and maintained.
“I already pay to responsibly manage the rainwater runoff from my property, and to pay an additional fee is paying twice for the same thing,” Harvey said in his testimony.
Paul Chod, owner of a 34-acre commercial development in Gaithersburg, sued Montgomery County over being charged with an $11,000 stormwater management fee despite having installed ponds that collect all the runoff from his property and even that of neighboring tracts.
Judge Nelson W. Rupp Jr. ruled in favor of Chod declaring the fee invalid since the County provided no service in return for the fee as expressly required by state law. Implications from the ruling may impact other jurisdictions who currently charge the “rain tax.” Officials from Montgomery County are weighing an appeal to Judge Rupp’s decision.
