Rule 13 Stormwater Control Compliance & Fee

Score another one for Garner the Gabber who once again duped us into believing him as he assurred everyone that the rates wouldn't rise if they let him do what he wanted. That was to institute a Stormwater fee at the beginning of the year for a mandate that didn't kick in until May, and for which no actual "project" is/was even planned.
That's the way it had to be, he said, to hold interim rates low for the first year.
Well, guess what? ...and I quote: "Things changed."
An increase in the fee was requested and passed within 5 months.
We are greatly concerned about the proposal that has been presented to Council for the creation of a new & seperate Stormwater Board that will drive the cost of meeting the Federal mandate up by more than 400 percent. A cost that rate-payers alone must bear the brunt of since there are no Federal dollars allocated to go along with the new requirement.
However, a seperate Board is neither a requirement, nor a necessity, to comply with Rule 13, but it is being sought none-the-less. We have good reason to suspect the primary motivation is the additional salary it would provide to the Mayor as Chair of the Board, but we are also aware of the plans to 'grow' this fund into a virtual garden variety of eligible costs.
There has been talk since last year that this new Stormwater "user fee" would be used to pay the Drainage Committee and any of their projects since the Sewer fund can no longer afford to bear that cost.
Now, doesn't it make sense to go ahead and put the Stormwater requirements in with the Drainage Committee that already exists and will be getting paid with this fee??? OF COURSE IT DOES!!!
The other thing Garner wants to get out of this is to start bringing the Sewer billing functions back 'in-house' which we feel is a huge mistake and another bad decision that will only hurt us in the long run.
Indiana-American Water Corp., which now handles the billing, is already set up and handling our billing needs efficiently. It is the City that has fallen off track from collecting hundreds of thousands of dollars in delinquent and unpaid sewage accounts.
In our opinion, the City simply cannot, and actually should not, perform the functions of a private bill collector.
As someone stated just recently..."we have enough on our plates."