The recent proposal to implement stormwater fees based on the impervious area of the property is a blatant attempt to increase the property owner’s tax and “fee” rates (“Portland’s plan for storm water fees would raise utility bills,” Aug. 28).

Of my home’s total impervious area, less than 25 percent sheds water into the storm drain, the rest being absorbed into the water table.

Yet city officials, in their desire to squeeze every last penny out of property owners, use flawed calculations to achieve this goal through the formula proposed.

This latest proposal, on top of a rate hike already proposed by the Portland Water District, should infuriate Portland residents.

During the summer months I, like most homeowners, water my yard as needed. None of this water flows down my drain or into the storm drain, yet I pay sewerage fees on it.

I think the water district is being subsidized enough.

If you calculate out how many others water their properties in a similar fashion and how much revenue the water district receives without having to treat this water, the total is substantial.

What’s next – a fee on the leaves that fall from the trees on my property and clog the storm drains from the runoff?

Never mind. I didn’t mean to put that idea in their heads.

Randy Wakefield

Portland

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