Stormwater fee backlog is $870,000

Some agencies in Tampa have not paid their bills for 4 years.

By JANET ZINK, Times Staff Writer
Published August 13, 2007

TAMPA - Since 2003, Tampa property owners have been charged a stormwater fee to help pay for projects to ease flooding on city streets.

But dozens of government agencies with offices in Tampa have ignored their stormwater bills from the city for the past four years.

Outstanding payments total more than $870,000, with the bulk of that - about $505,000 -attached to the Hillsborough County School Board.

Others with unpaid bills include the Tampa Housing Authority, the Tampa Port Authority, Florida Department of Transportation and the U.S. Postal Service.

City officials are now looking at their options for collecting that cash.

The stormwater fee is based on how much of a property's land area is covered by impermeable surfaces. For most homeowners, the charge totals about $36 a year. But commercial property owners and those who own many buildings pay much more.

The University of South Florida says it plans to pay the $160,000 it owes the city.

"We are trying to identify the source of the funds to pay the bill," says USF associate general counsel Hank Lavandera. The cost, he said, will be divided among independent entities on campus, such as H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center, that use the city's stormwater system.

But some of the agencies on the list of delinquent bills maintain that they're exempt from the payment because they are government agencies and don't have to pay special assessments to other governments.

"That's the way we see it," said Jerome Ryans, chief executive officer of the Tampa Housing Authority, which owes about $55,000, according to city records .

Ryans said the authority's attorney is looking into the matter.

Steve Hegarty, spokesman for the Hillsborough County School Board, said the agency told the city it didn't believe it was subject to the fee when it was first created.

"We've been operating under that assumption," Hegarty said. "It sounds like other government agencies have been of the same opinion."

City Attorney David Smith said everyone must pay the stormwater charge because it's a user fee, not a special assessment.

"They would have to pay it unless they can show us a statutory exemption, which to this date no one has done," Smith said.

Janet Zink can be reached at jzink@sptimes.com or 813 226-3401

[Last modified August 12, 2007, 23:45:24]