o Previously: The Bonneville Power Administration refused to pay the city of Vancouver $8,500 monthly for stormwater fees after a March 2010 GAO ruling.
o What’s new: President Obama on Jan. 4 signed a bill that is intended to make the payments resume.
o What’s next: Both sides are waiting on interpretation of the new law’s provisions before sending a bill or cutting a check.
A new federal law passed this month is likely to require the Bonneville Power Administration to resume paying the city of Vancouver $8,500 a month in stormwater fees.
o Previously: The Bonneville Power Administration refused to pay the city of Vancouver $8,500 monthly for stormwater fees after a March 2010 GAO ruling.
o What's new: President Obama on Jan. 4 signed a bill that is intended to make the payments resume.
o What's next: Both sides are waiting on interpretation of the new law's provisions before sending a bill or cutting a check.
Citing a U.S. Government Accountability Office ruling, the BPA in March 2010 informed Vancouver, along with 11 other Washington and Oregon cities, that it would no longer be paying its stormwater fees, as they considered it a tax rather than a fee. Federal agencies, which are not required to pay local taxes, made the same move across the country.
For some cities, such as Aberdeen, that meant a paltry $6 a month. But in Vancouver, which is home to BPA’s large Ross Complex, that meant the loss of more than $100,000 a year, Assistant City Attorney Linda Marousek explained.
Stormwater bills are calculated by the amount of nonpermeable surface that causes pollutants and water to run off the ground, so the concrete-filled Ross Complex would pay a substantial fee.
No matter the price, the move raised the hackles of public works directors — Aberdeen’s threatened to shut off the BPA’s water for nonpayment — and also got elected officials on the horn to lobby for change.
Mayor Tim Leavitt sent a letter to the state’s federal delegation, and both Sens. Maria Cantwell and Patty Murray, D-Wash., pressed for a bill. Ultimately, one was introduced last summer by Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Maryland.
“At stake is a fundamental issue of equity: Polluters should be financially responsible for the pollution that they cause,” Cardin told the Senate. “That includes the federal government.”
The bill says that the agencies and departments should use their appropriated funds to pay those fees, just as they do currently for water and wastewater bills.
Cardin called it a matter of “basic equity.”
President Obama signed the bill into law Jan. 4.
However, both sides are waiting until the Department of Justice makes a final call on the wording of the bill before paying up — or demanding payment.
“We don’t have a lot to say except that we’re reviewing the language,” BPA spokesman Michael Milstein said Wednesday. “There’s a couple provisions about exactly under what conditions federal agencies would pay, and it’s not exactly clear to how it would apply to Bonneville.”
Marousek said she’s still uncertain that the BPA will back pay the $103,000 it owes. She also said the BPA may say its current appropriation funds aren’t enough to allow them to pay for the stormwater fee.
“We would suggest that probably their appropriation didn’t go away when they stopped paying; that money is still there,” she said.
Andrea Damewood: 360-735-4542 or andrea.damewood@columbian.com.
